


SOME THINGS CALLED YOU

by iggyvoid



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-04-08 01:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 68,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19097140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iggyvoid/pseuds/iggyvoid
Summary: Party Poison has returned from a 2-week long disappearance.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prologue.

Who even were the killjoys, anyway? 

To the stone-faced citizens of Battery City, they were no one. No one at all. And they never were.

To the crows, they were merely an infestation that needed to be taken care of. Insects. Nothing more than children raised with violence and rock 'n roll, that required extermination in order to make a perfect world, for the perfect people to live in. 

The city and the desert probably couldn't have possibly been more different. They were like opposite ends to the coolness spectrum. Only problem was that the people in both places often didn't agree on whether coolness was a good thing.

The desert was full of danger, which, for members of the city, were a good thing for them and a bad thing for the rebels who made their home in the static. Differing opinions haunted the entire state of California, and those who inhabited the deserts knew the risks, but they learned, they adapted. In the zones, only the strong survive. Luckily, most who had the courage to escape the city were strong enough to begin with. 

Killjoys were survivalists, they did anything they could do to keep living. Sometimes they'd get into a fit of trouble with some draculoids, or god forbid a s/c/a/r/e/c/ro/w agent, but most of the time they'd just have to find something to do with their time while they’re not dodging death, like a rodent carefully dodging traps.  
Often times they did things with their time that they wouldn't have done in any other circumstance. 

Finger painting. Eating bugs. Joyriding at 4am. Holding hands. Getting bad tattoos. Getting wasted and waking up in places you shouldn't be. Listening to trashy music and singing terribly offkey while your friend screams along. Stealing clothes. Sleeping for seventeen hours one day then only four hours the next day. Drawing on any flat surface. Trying to learn how to juggle and not succeeding. Falling in love.

Boredom is barely a concept in the desert because no matter how dull the days get there's still something out there for you to do. Every day, somewhere in the zones there is someone trying something new and potentially dangerous somewhere out in the zones. There is a non-zero chance that someone will die within the next few days, and they learn to accept that. All killjoys die. But it doesn't matter because even when they're gone, the cause lives on without them. All killjoys die. 

This is the story of Party Poison, the killjoy that, one day, did not die.


	2. Missing Posters and Mysterious Circumstances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Party Poison is back. What else is there to say?

Chapter 2

Missing Posters and Mysterious Circumstances 

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST TWO WEEKS!”

From the middle of the desert, in the center of Zone 4, a voice shot out like a bullet from a gun, so loud that even the juvie halls hiding in the shadows of the city had to cover their ears. A small group of three killjoy rebels were joined with a fourth, standing in the middle of the open static.

The fourth estranged killjoy was Party Poison, a spritely but dangerous young killjoy with a fiery head of red hair and an even fierier personality. He simply shrugged. “I dunno. I always wondered what it was like to fade into the static. Always heard stories of people disappearing into the desert. Kinda felt like doing it myself. Y'know, just to see what it was like.”

A second killjoy, named Jet Star, put his head in his hands, breathing irregularly. “So you decided to disappear into the desert??? For two weeks. Without telling anyone.”

Party Poison nodded, expressing almost joyously. “Yep!”

Jet’s eye twitched. His face read 'I don't know what to do with you.' “I need to sit down,” he muttered, lowering his knees into the sand. (Which might be the worst possible place to sit.)

“Where did you even go, dude???” A black-haired killjoy, Fun Ghoul, said, not even able to fathom the situation at hand. “We searched the entire desert, TWICE. Including the bifrost and the maple plazas and shit. We must’ve gotten half of the whole desert into your ghost chase.”

“Ghoul actually went for a third round by himself,” Kobra Kid added. “Just to make sure.”

Party Poison pushed that last comment out of his head and shrugged. “I dunno why you guys are so surprised I came back,” he admitted. “You think this massive pile of sand could possibly tarnish the rep of Party Poison??”

“We didn’t think you were dead, exactly, we just.. You disappeared suddenly and when we couldn’t find you we made some assumptions.” Jet explained. 

The desert was quiet. Party Poison tried to savor it, knowing that soon it would be over once the desert opened its eyes and realized he had returned. To him, the desert didn't even feel like the same place without people surrounding him, constantly bickering and yelling about whatever he fucked up this time. It felt like home, because really, it was home. 

Behind the mask, Poison closed his eyes and tuned out whatever blab Jet was trying to get out.

Kobra interjected. “I wasn’t surprised at all when he disappeared actually,” he replied. “Obviously I was still worried as all hell- we all were. It just wasn't too much of a terrible shock seeing as he always talked about wanting to run away from it all.”

“Yeah, he talked about that with YOU, Kobe, because he’s your brother and he tells you fuckin’ everything.” Jet rolled his eyes, as he often did when he had to deal with Pois's bullshit. “Why didn’t you tell me? Tell us?”

Poison sighed. “Because if I had told you that I wanted to run away, you would’ve lost your shit and made sure I never left your sight, Jet,” Poison replied casually.

“Well I don't mean to alarm you, Poison Of The Party, but I'm definitely going to do that now!” Jet exclaimed.

“Calm down, you two.” Kobra pushed the two apart, but maintained a smile. 

“How did you even- survive out there???” Fun Ghoul asked the red-haired killjoy. “I can’t imagine you had a lot to eat..” 

“I took like, one can of beans with me when I left,” Poison replied. “Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t enough! It lasted me like 3 days and after that I just kind of ate garbage. I ate a dead rat once.”

“YOU WHAT,” Jet screamed. He was quivering with protective energy.

“I WAS HUNGRY,” Poison exclaimed defensively. Kobra Kid and Jetstar both looked like they were about ready to throw up in their mouths. Fun Ghoul, in contrast, looked slightly offended.

“YOU COULD’VE GOTTEN THE PLAGUE. LIKE THE ACTUAL, BUBONIC PLAGUE. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU.”

“IT WAS EITHER THAT OR I SURVIVE OFF OF SAND JET, DO YOU WANT THAT? DO YOU WANT ME TO GET SAND-INSIDE-YOUR-STOMACH DISEASE JET?”

“I’D RATHER YOU EAT SAND THAN DIE OF THE PLAGUE LIKE A FUCKING 15TH CENTURY EUROPEAN PEASANT!“

"Ok seriously you guys fucking break it up,” Kobra said, pulling Poison and Jet away from each other by the back of their jackets.

“Yeah I second that, let’s stop talking about this now,” Ghoul advised, though it felt more like an order. Kobra Kid nodded in silent solidarity. This was getting ridiculous.

“Ok well anyways I’m back now, hi,” Poison announced obviously.

“We noticed,” Jet said. “Let’s go to the diner and see who else is there. We’re not the only ones who missed you, y'know. The others are waiting.”

 

***

 

Since the other three members of the fabulous killjoys hailed from the diner, it wasn't a long walk from their meeting spot to there. The diner door swung open, and Party Poison knocked thrice, signaling his presence to the other inhabitants of the abandoned restaurant. 

"Hm? No way." A pale figure wearing a royal blue motorcycle helmet popped up from behind a table. "A-HA! I knew I recognized that knock! POISON!"

"It's Britney bitch," Party Poison replied, smirking and tracing the mask around his face. The brunette ran up to Poison and tackle-hugged them. 

Poison stumbled. "Whoa there, Pone, give some damn forewarning next time, I could've fallen and died for real this time!"

The helmeted figure let go of Poison, removing the helmet and revealing their face. “POISON! MY GUY!!”

“Hello, Show Pony.” Poison smiled. For the time he was gone, if there was anything he missed most, it was the sheer enthusiasm of everyone he met, especially the diner folk. 

"I fuckin' knew it dude! When the doc announced you had been declared missing, people said you had fucking died, but I didn't believe 'em and I WAS RIGHT!!" Show Pony started jumping up and down with joy. "Unless this is a hallucination, and I'm not ruling anything out yet."

"It's not," Ghoul confirmed, following Poison into the diner and sitting up on a table.

"Good to see you too, Pony. Though you seem more excited that you were right than that I'm alive." Poison crossed his arms. 

“I'm just generally excited, guy!!!! I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier to learn that the Phoenix Witch failed to grab a soul. Where the hell did you run off to??”

“The moon.” Poison smirked.

Jet scoffed. “He got lost in the desert for two weeks.”

“Wow, how did that even happen?? Here I was thinking you knew these zones like the back of your glove..”

“Oh no, I do. I actually didn't get lost, I ran away! On purpose,” Poison replied, smiling innocently like he had no regrets. (He didn’t).

“..Wow.” Pony replied, astonished. “That's…. Kind of the dream, not gonna lie. Running away from it all.” Pony didn't look different at all, really. Not much had changed physically in the desert, it just had a different energy. Something that Poison couldn't quite put his finger on.

“Show Pony, if you disappear into the static for as long as Poison was gone I’m going to track you down and crush you to death with my wheelchair,” exclaimed a familiar voice from the diner kitchen.

Poison turned his head. “Dr. Death! What are you doing at this dump, shouldn’t you be at the radio station?” 

“Looking for Kobra’s candy,” Dr. D muttered, popping his head through the swing door. “And waiting for you to come home. Looks like my wait is over. Good to see you alive and well, Poison.”

“Thanks, D. Good to know that no one forgot me.”

“Cherri was pretty damn close to writing your name on the mailbox,” Show Pony snitched, grinning.

“Was not!” Another voice from the diner kitchen responded. “I knew he was gonna come back, the static is no match for Poison.”

“Then, o great Cola of Cherries, please elucidate why there’s a red ‘P’ etched on the damn front,” Show Pony accused, crossing their arms and grinning even wider knowing they were right.

“The P stands for Pony because I’m that close to murdering you,” Cherri said in an uncharacteristically monotone voice.

“Are you also fruitlessly scavenging for my candy, Cherri?” Kobra asked.

“Yes. I’m sick of eating dog food and I want sugar,” Cherri responded honestly.

“You guys know you’re not gonna find it, right?”

“It’s worth looking,” Cherri replied. “Anything besides dog food is worth it, even if it’s impossible to find. Where are you hiding it, Kobra? Does the candy even exist, Kobra Kid? If that’s even your real name.”

“Nah, it exists. You guys just aren’t that good at looking for it.” Kobra smirked. Cherri groaned.

"Hey Cherri-cakes, could I get a soda, by any chance?" Poison requested, propping his legs up on a table like he owned the place. 

"We don't have soda. But we do have fruit juice," Cherri answered.

The red-haired rebel considered this. "I will settle for a fruit juice. But watch yourself, Cola. One more missed soda and I'm stealing your last Mad Gear shirt." Poison's threats were never empty.

"You'll pry it from my cold, dead hands, Pois," Cherri replied coldly. "But yeah, I'll tell Pony to restock." He disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and returned a second later with a juice box in hand. "Catch." 

Poison caught the juice. The plastic straw pierced into the box and the rebel took a long, obnoxious sluuuurp. 

"How is it?" Ghoul asked. 

"Slightly warm but it doesn't matter because it's the first thing I've had to drink in two weeks besides cactus water," Poison replied, taking another swig. 

"Jeez," Kobra replied. 

"We're gonna get you some water soon," Jet added. 

"Warm juice is good for now, boys." Poison turned around and approached a hung corkboard. Every day there was something new- be it a job opportunity, a cry for romance (or, god forbid, carbon dating), maybe the occasional vague/shady prophetic message that usually didn't come true. Most of these were usually tiny anecdotes written on sticky notes or index cards hastily tacked to the bulletin, but right in the center of the corkboard was a missing poster. Poison stared at it. It stared back.

MISSING

Name: Party Poison

Appearance: chin length neon red hair. Likely wearing a blue Dead Pegasus brand blue jacket and yellow domino mask at all times. Last seen in zone 3 on a "solo mission". 

Any information you can provide is infinitely helpful. Please report to the Diner in Zone 4 if you know anything about his whereabouts.

The information on the poster was written in scrawl with a pencil. Some parts in particular looked like they were written with shaking hands. Under the text, there was a stylized profile shot of the red-haired killjoy. 

Poison read the poster over and over. Every time it was the same.   
"..You guys made missing posters for me?" 

Though he said 'you guys', he mostly meant Ghoul. It's his handwriting.

When nobody spoke up, Poison untacked the poster and held it up. He was looking right into Ghoul's eyes. 

Ghoul looked at his feet. "Don't look at me! Jet asked me to do it!"

"No no, I wasn't gonna say anything," Poison replied, tracing the drawing with his finger. "I must say though, the drawing doesn't do me much justice.. that jawline isn't nearly defined enough, I won't sugarcoat."

"I did the drawing," Kobra added.

"Kobra, you are a fantastic artist and we all love and support you," Poison said truthfully. 

Poison ran his fingers down the edges of the paper, which was definitely a potent paper cut hazard. "You guys didn't even laminate it? It's like you don't even care about me," he joked. No one laughed. 

Ghoul mumbled something unintelligible. "Yeah, Kobra drew the pic and I wrote most of it. The poster, I mean."

"..most?"

Kobra giggled a little before speaking again. "He was having trouble spelling 'whereabouts'."

Ghoul groaned. "Shut UP!"

Poison stifled a laugh. "Ghoulie, how do you think it's spelled?"

Ghoul was silent for a second while he shuffled his feet. "W-E-R-A-B-O-UT-S."

Kobra burst out laughing. Poison had to restrain himself from doing the same. 

"Oh shut UP, I'm sorry I didn't go to a fancy schmancy prep school in Boringville, California like you two batt rats!"

"Ghoul, don't worry, we're just poking fun atcha." Kobra ruffled the shorter killjoy's hair. Ghoul slapped his hand off of his scalp.

Poison tipped the straw all the way up til the last drop of juice was gone. He spat the⁴??" Cherri groaned. "You're gonna drink us out of house and home, Pois."

"This one's to go." Poison caught the second juice box without even turning to look. “We should get going, 'joys. Now that I’m back we’ve got some work to do.”

“Damn right,” Fun Ghoul agreed, walking out of the diner towards the trans am, Kobra and Jet following after him.

“See you later, Pois. Good to have you back.” Cherri Cola smiled.

The leader of the fabulous killjoys nodded. Turning to look at the agent, he spoke again. “Cherri?”

“Yeah?”

The red-haired killjoy paused. “Where on the mailbox did you put that P?”

“Right on the front. Lower down, near the wedding ring. I.. thought you would have wanted it to be kinda prominent. You were an icon in the desert after all.”

Poison snorted. “Why are you referring to me in the past tense?”

“Force of habit, I suppose,” Cherri implored. “Since you disappeared, you’re really all anyone wants to talk about. They’ll all be relieved to learn that you’re alive. Maybe then we can get the conspiracists to shut up.”

“Oh god, what are they saying? Fill me in on all the juicy dust trails, Cherri, what are the tabloids saying?”

“Not sure about some of ‘em, but the ones I heard were fuckin’ wild. I heard some rose dusts saying something about you going Nobody and turning yourself right into BL/ind, like your heart wasn’t in it anymore.”

Party Poison was silent. “Wow, that. Wasn’t as funny as I expected. Like, at all.”

“I know. There were wackier ones but that was definitely the most talked about theory. It’s just that everyone was kind of having trouble believing that the most famous ‘joy in the desert would get ghosted in a snap. It didn’t make sense.”

“Well, they did get it right that I wasn’t dead,” Poison remarked.

“Yeah, I suppose.”

From outside the diner, Ghoul’s voice called. “Hurry it up, chiddlers, we’ve got things to do and people to shoot!”

“See you around, Cherri.” Poison smiled.

Cherri saluted. “And also with you, soldier.”

Poison turned around, and on his way out, took one last look at the poster, which had been set down on the table below the corkboard now that it was of no use. Looking from the poster, to the trans am outside, back to the poster. Swallowing, he took the piece of paper and shoved it hastily into his back pocket.


	3. Daytime Driving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fab 4 run some errands. Things get awkward.

Chapter 3  
Daytime Drive

And then they were gone. 

Within a mere 60 seconds on Kobra's watch, the old diner was a mere speck on the wide desert horizon that the killjoys called home. Party Poison had missed this. Not just the air conditioning and cushy seats in the trans am, but- just the feeling of going at such a speed for no real reason other than the thrill of the joyride. And the energy- the energy that surrounded the other killjoys. Having them around was.. comforting. Something about being around them made Poison feel better about himself, even though often times it wasn't anything they would say. The fabulous killjoys were his home. A home that he had missed in the two weeks that he was gone. Kind of a lot.

“Did you guys get any like? Food?” Party Poison asked. Behind his yellow domino mask, his eyes were darting around looking for anything remotely edible. "I haven't eaten much of anything in the past two weeks and I am in dire need of SUSTENANCE." 

Kobra Kid nodded, reaching for his bag. He rummaged through the many pockets- Kobra's bag was small, but it could hold a lot more shit than you'd expect. Half the time Poison was genuinely shocked that all the stuff they kept in there didn't break his back. 

Kobra looked up from his bag. “Uhh, as for food- we have some power pup and stuff, but to be honest it’s been hard to find anything these past few weeks. Obviously, the vends are still functioning and all that- and obviously Tommy’s shop isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but the trouble is that-”

Fun Ghoul held up his hand. “When you disappeared you kind of got a spook out of a lot of the merchants and angel cakes that wander the zones, and a lot of them hid. There were nasty rumors circulating.. that there were bli spies around, killing people silently. People saying there were reapers, hiding in the shadows, taking people out in the backdrops. You scared the shit out of a lot of people, Pois. Someone as famous as you disappearing without a trace was fucking terrifying.”  
Party Poison sighed in a way that told the others that he didn’t care too terribly much, but still felt like being dramatic as usual. “God, it’s so hard being popular. It makes that much more of an impact when you do something big,” he replied pensively. 

"Yeah, something big," Kobra repeated. "Like dying." 

"Yeah," Poison confirmed.

"You seriously think that all of this commotion is happening just because you're 'too popular'?" Jet replied. “Is that- actually your takeaway from this?” 

Poison nodded. “Yeah, and what about it?”

Jet put his head in his hands. “You are- the most egotistical person I’ve ever met,” He sighed. 

“Yeah, it’s kind of my brand.” Sitting in the shotgun seat, Poison pulled open the glove compartment and felt around for anything the guy could smoke. His pale, gloved hand came upon a half-used up pack of cigarettes. He let out an audible 'ooh'. 

Ghoul scoffed. “Could you like- actually not? Right now?” he said. Ghoul was driving, so while he should have been focused on the road in front of him, at the moment he was fixated on watching Pois light the cigarette with a very on-brand neon yellow lighter.

“Oh get off my case, Ghoul, it’s been two weeks since I’ve had a good smoke.”

“Is that right?” said Kobra from the back.

“Yeah, I actually didn’t take any with me when I left.”

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to get drunk tonight. We gotta save the shit that we've got and use it when it counts,” Ghoul asserted, setting a boundary that Poison quickly decided he didn’t like.

Poison took an almost uncomfortably long drag from the cigarette and spat the smoke out the window in a long stream. “Mhm, yep, uh huh," he replied. "And tell me, Fun Ghoul, just how you plan on stopping me? Hm, rat boy?” He actually hadn't been planning on drinking anything that night, but who knows, maybe he'd end up doing it out of spite for Ghoul. 

Poison was expecting a witty remark or an insult to be fired back. However, all he got in response was a soft scoff from Ghoul as he turned back around to focus on driving, his short figure hunched over the wheel, not daring to look back over into Poison's mask. It was only at this point that Poison identified that he was doing something wrong, because Ghoul never acted like this around him. However, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what exactly he was doing wrong. After all, wasn't this how he always acted around Ghoul and the others?

The rest of the drive was quiet, and more than a tad awkward. Even with Kobra and Jet’s small chatter from the back, a dreary energy hung over the car. Poison didn’t like it. He didn’t like feeling ignored. He didn’t like being ignored.

However, he figured maybe it was best if he just shut his mouth until Ghoul decided to not be mad at him, but the trouble there was that historically, Ghoul was very good at holding a grudge- that is, for anyone except Poison. They were best friends, after all, and when they went everywhere together, it was hard for them to ignore each other even for a day. However, they rarely had quarrels that lasted longer than a few hours, so Poison didn't have very much to go off of. 

In addition, though Party Poison's game plan was to shut up, the dilemma he was then confronted with was that he was extraordinarily bad at shutting up. Mostly because he’d much rather have anyone listen to him than have to listen to himself.

At this moment he just couldn’t stop thinking about how much he was gonna sleep that night.

The drear eventually faded. Not willingly on anyone’s part- it was just always hard for the fab four to stay mad at each other when they really did do everything together. Jet and Kobra were acting like normal, jokey and maybe a little obnoxious, and while Ghoul still seemed a little on edge, he started occasionally talking again, which was an important step.

“Look, all I’m saying is that if Missile Kid doesn’t exist at all then who the hell wrote Mastas of Ravenkroft because Mad Gear says at every live show that Missile Kid wrote it himself.”

“Jet, Missile Kid is still a caffeine-induced hallucination. Mad Gear wrote it himself.”

“Ok, but why would he say that then!”

“Because he’s convinced that Missile Kid is a real person! It’s not rocket science, Jet! We've figured this out by now! Keep up!”

“Jesus, would you two stop bickering?” Poison said.

“Yeah, quiet down back there, I don’t wanna have to turn this car around.” Ghoul winked. He was only half joking.

“You sound like a mom,” Jet replied.

“Implying I’m not.” Ghoul smiled in his rat way, where the corners of his mouth lifted up a little too far, like the villain in a mousekat cartoon. 

“Where are we going again?” Kobra asked.

“To Tommy’s shop, to get some fuckin’ food, since we’re almost fresh out of power pup and it’s a hella long drive to the nearest vending machine,” Ghoul answered.

Poison groaned. “Oh come on dude, why the fuck why would we get pup at Tommy’s shop when we could just get it at a vend?"

"Because it’s more convenient,” Ghoul responded. “And Kobe left the vend-a-hack at the nest last night.”

“Hey, no I didn’t! See, it’s right-” 

Kobra rummaged through his bag for a moment, in the pocket where the vend-a-hack would normally be secreted. Alas, it was not there. 

“Ok yeah I don’t have it.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna have to go back to the nest to pick it up before we sleep tonight. Make sure it doesn’t get snatched.”

“That’s fair,” Kobra agreed. 

For a brief moment, the only audible sound was the soft hum of the engine. 

"Hey, while we’re at Tommy's shop can we get some actually good shit? Provided that he has any," Poison chimed in.

Fun Ghoul shrugged. “Well I'll tell you one thing, we’re not buying drugs. Not because we’re attempting to stay sober on any level, but because we are Almost Out Of Money.”

Poison tilted his head like a confused puppy. “How?? We had a good stock of carbons when I left.”

“We... may or may not have bought a shit ton of drugs while you were gone, Pois,” Jet admitted.

“Regrettably,” Ghoul added.

“You don’t regret shit,” Jet accused.

“Yeah, you're right,” Ghoul said.

“We missed you,” Kobra added, smiling innocently, like a child trying to discreetly hide that they just broke their neighbor’s window playing baseball.

Poison crossed his arms, frowning. “Well it looks like we’re gonna have to scrounge, because there’s no way I’m leaving Tommy’s shop with only the bare essentials, I gotta buy something useful there.”

“How much money do you have, Pois?” Kobra asked, closing his bag.

“Oh, I don’t have any."

"I'm sorry, what?” Jet felt inclined to ask.

“Yeah I, um. Actually didn’t bring any money with me when I left,” Poison stated, pressing his mask harder against his face guiltily.

Jet looked like he was close to tears. “You are.. SO fucking stupid.”

“Damn right,” Poison replied, taking a sip of the juice he had gotten at the diner, through a swirly straw that the others could only imagine was given to him by Show Pony. They tended to have those things. The juice had grown uncomfortably warm under the burning California sun, and by now it was mostly backwash, but it was something. 

After that it wasn’t long before they reached Tommy’s shop, placed conveniently in the center of all the zones, but far enough from the maple plazas in Zone 6 that the radiation wouldn’t spread to the greenhouse. Tommy Chow Mein was the most capitalist man the zones had ever seen, so he was able to take advantage of these things. Built out of an abandoned hotel, the hand-painted sign read "The Infestation". That, of course, was the shop's official name- but no one called it that. Before it was The Infestation, it was Tommy's Shop, and even after the rebrand, the name had stuck too much for anyone to get used to it. So to everyone, it was still just Tommy's Shop. The place had the capacity to sell everything- water, food, spare parts, magazines, various supplies. You could probably find anything in there if you look hard enough. 

Unfortunately for the fabulous killjoys, they didn't exactly have the money for anything fancy. 

The shop’s door swung open and the bell rung. Then there they were: the fab 4, a quartet once again.

“Oh, so you’re alive,” said Tommy at the front desk, upon seeing the fiery-haired 'joy with his crew.

“Nice to see you too, Tommy.” Party Poison immediately started searching for where the power pup cans were kept.

“You wanna know what he went and did, Tommy? He ran away into the desert for two weeks. Without announcing it or anything. Can you believe that?” Jet griped in an almost gossipy tone.

“That’s cool, Jet Star. What do you boys want?” Tommy was never one for small talk, so Poison wasn’t sure what Jet was trying to accomplish by talking to him about it.

“We’re just here for some power pup is all,” Poison answered.

“I see. Well, you can pay for that now.”

“You got it.” Party Poison gestured to Kobra, who nodded and pulled an appropriate amount of carbons out of his backpack.

“You gonna pay for the candy too?” Tommy said nonchalantly, and without looking up, put the carbons in the cash register.

“Exsqueeze me?” Party Poison assumed a confused expression, pushing his neon yellow mask further up the bridge of his nose.

“You have candy in your pockets. Do you plan on paying for it, or putting it back like a good little boy?”

Poison frowned, with a pouty lip. “FIIINE,” he finally said, pulling the cherry-flavored hard candies out of his back pockets. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. “Actually, do you suppose I could-”

“No, you may not pay for it in "magic rocks” that you found in the witch’s garden," Tommy interrupted. "Pay for it in carbons or no sweets for you.“

"I swear to god you’re a god damn PSYCHIC,” Poison crabbed, shoving the rocks back into his pockets.

“Nope, not a psychic. You’re just really, really predictable. Now go put that stuff back where you found it. We don’t permit stealing on Tommy’s domain.”

“Jesus, ok,” Party Poison begrudgingly agreed, stomping back to the candy baskets to return the stolen goods from whence they came. 

“Well, if that’s all that you hooligans want, then you may go about your business.” Tommy waved goodbye, which was less of a friendly parting gesture and more of a dismissal.

“See ya around, Tomster,” Ghoul jested, flashing him an ok sign. 

“Call me that again and I’m increasing the price on rat food by 20%,” Tommy interjected in the monotonous voice that he somehow maintained no matter what he was saying. Being a shopkeep in the desert seemed to have really mellowed him out. Having to deal with people like the fab four every day was probably what made him this way. 

“Got it, Sir Thomas of the Chow Mein clan,” Ghoul replied.

Tommy raised his eyebrows. “Better, but just calling me by my name will suffice,” Tommy said plainly.

“Ok,” Ghoul responded, not even wanting to continue the conversation. Soon he was out the door, and the others followed him, including Poison.

Poison was on his way out, when.. 

“Hey, Party Poison?” 

Party Poison stopped dead in his tracks. Was Tommy Chow Mein actually talking to him? Like a human being? What timeline is this?? 

“Uhh, yeah?” he finally said, after questioning if this was real life.

Tommy paused before speaking again, like he was choosing his words carefully. 

“Good to have you back,” he finally said.

Aww. Poison couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks, dude!”

As the red-headed rebel was on his way out, Tommy called at him again. “Maybe stop trying to steal shit from me and I’ll be actually inclined to help look for you next time around!”

“I will, sir!”

“No you won’t!”

“You’re absolutely right, I will not! But thank you anyway!!”


	4. Chapter 4 - Soggy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghoul and Poison have an important conversation.

Chapter 4 - Soggy

A few hours had passed since anyone in the group had said anything- obviously they had talked multiple times, but not about anything in particular, like the vague and crappy dialogue on daytime television shows. To Poison, it was now 10 P.M., and the day had been an incredible bore. More than anything, he just wanted to get some shuteye.   
Poison winced, his eyes shooting up, wide behind the yellow mask. Ghoul was standing in the doorway of the room Poison had claimed, drenched from head to toe.

“Aaa! Hi! Ghoul!” Poison said, tensing up as his hidden eyes met Ghoul's. “What’s up? Why are you all wet?”

"I took a bath," Ghoul answered.

"Fully clothed?" Poison cocked his head to one side like a confused puppy.

"Yes."

"Ok," Poison replied. Not even going to question that at this point. 

"Anyways…." Ghoul continued. "I’m glad I caught you fell asleep. I wanted you to be conscious when we finally talked about this.”

"I'm not going to sleep, Ghoul, it’s not even late yet. Sleep is for weaklings. I'm not a weakling, Ghoul, do you think I’m a weakling?”

Ghoul raised his eyebrows. "First of all, kind of," he mused. “Second of all, how much sleep did you get, out there in the desert, Pois?”

Poison looked down, swallowing. “Not a lot."

"How much is 'not a lot'?" Ghoul stood with a hand on his hip.

"Uhh… per night? Anywhere from five to, um… no hours."

Ghoul recoiled. "Jesus, Pois, what were you even thinking??"

Poison didn't answer, but he did sit all the way up, just to prove to Ghoul that he was awake enough to have a conversation. “What did you want to talk about?”

"You know what I want to talk about, Pois, and I know you don't want to talk about it." 

Ghoul was about to sit down on the bed, but Pois felt inclined to stop him. "Hey hey HEY, you are NOT sitting on my bed with your soaked ass! You're gonna make it look like I pissed myself! Can't you monologue to me while standing up?"

Ghoul considered this. "Hmm. Well, I'm gonna feel like a 6th grader giving a PowerPoint presentation to my class, but.. if it means you'll listen to me, then sure."

"Thank you." Poison was sitting with criss-crossed legs in the middle of the bed. He looked up at Ghoul expectantly. Waiting for him to say something.

Ghoul let out a sigh. Here we go.

“Why did you run away, Party Poison?”

Whatever question Pois was expecting, this wasn't it. It was a question that he could never have been prepared for, probably in part because he didn't exactly know the answer himself. He didn’t even know where to begin. For a minute he just kind of sat there, thinking hard about how he could possibly articulate what happened 2 weeks ago. Ghoul watched his thought process patiently.

“I want you to know you can talk to me," Ghoul continued after having received no answer. "I just- if you’re having problems, I want to be able to help, y'know? Whatever’s going on, I wanna make sure that you're not.. I dunno.. that you're okay, in any sense of the word.”

Poison blinked. "I don't know if I understand." 

"I wanna help you, dumbass!" Ghoul's voice faltered, and it raised a little during that sentence. He wiped a large amount of collected water from his brow- some of it was probably sweat. "I- I guess I just don't want you to do anything stupid, okay? People tend to act stupid when they've got a lot on their mind or whatever, and don't get me wrong, what you did was fucking stupid. So as your friend, I wanna make sure you're alright."

Pois squinted. "What are you getting at?"

Fun Ghoul let out a loud groan. “Jesus CHRIST, Pois, stop dodging the motherfucking question!”

Ghoul then went on to tackle Poison, which he’d done before, but- not in such a way. Poison was buried in Ghoul’s embrace, and it didn’t seem like he planned on letting go anytime soon. His entire body was cold and wet, and he had sharp fingernails that stung as they clung to Poison's jacket sleeves. It was uncomfortable at best, but when Fun Ghoul hugged, Poison hugged back nonetheless. Party Poison may have been a dick, but he knew how to react when a friend was upset.

“I MISSED you, you fucking asshole!” the black-haired killjoy shrieked.

Poison was kind of in shock. Again, this wasn't what he had expected at all. He was mostly shocked at how Ghoul was acting- normally he never acted like this, not even when they were alone.

“I know. I know, Ghoul, and I’m sorry,” Poison replied, his arms wrapped around Ghoul's shoulders as he gripped tight. 

Ghoul had become incredibly upset in a very short amount of time. It was a very hard thing for Poison to witness. When his face pressed against Poison's, he could feel that his already-wet face was washed in hot, angry tears. He was barely able to get his words out in between his sobs. "Y'know- you say that, Poison-" he huffed. "But the thing is that you're lying."

“What??”

“You heard me fucking right!" Ghoul accused. "You're not fuckin' sorry you left, but oh, I bet you're sure sorry that I'm here now, bawling my fucking eyes out over something that you wanna pretend never fucking happened!" Ghoul's mood kept swinging mid-sentence, and it was hard for Poison to keep up. Tears now streaming down his face, he looked at his best friend with a mixture of emotions in his eyes- anger, fear, betrayal, sadness. 

"Ghoul, I understand why you're upset, but-"

"Oh really? You think you understand? Then TELL ME, Party Poison," Ghoul challenged, "Tell me why you ran away. Tell me why you fucked off into the static for half a month then turned up and pretended to be the same man as before. Why I had to wake up one morning to the alarm clock radiation and hear Doctor Death's announce to all the zones that you had been declared missing. I cried my stupid eyes out when we couldn't find you, y'know, and the others had to watch. So, yeah! Tell me, Party Poison!"

Poison didn't like crying, so usually he never did. He didn't like crying mostly because he didn't like showing basic human emotion in general, but also because tears would always mix with the paint on the inside of his mask and it would irritate his eyes. Because of this, Poison trained himself to never cry, in any circumstance.  
Seems like he should've trained a little harder, because here he was, in tears, a complete mess.

And, of course, the eye irritation didn't do him any favors.

"I can’t tell you," Poison admitted. 

"What?!"

"I said I CAN’T TELL YOU! I know there's a lot of shit you gotta know before you can trust me again but the thing is that- you're not exactly an easy person to talk to, about these things, so could you just STOP?"

Ghoul's mood already seemed to be shaping up, not in a positive way, just in a way where he was mentally preparing himself to comfort his friend. "Hey hey hey wait wait, don't cry, god please don't cry, don't cry-" 

Poison's cry was different than Ghoul's in several ways. Ghoul's cry was more like a howl than anything else, and sounded more like you'd imagine a guy his age would sound like when having a breakdown such as this, whereas Pois's cry emerged in chortles and short sobs, like a puppy who misses its mother. It was enough to make a grown man shed a tear. 

In addition, Pois's cry was enough to make Ghoul stop freaking out.

"Shhhh, hey, it's okay. It's okay, you were honest with me and that's literally all that matters," Ghoul soothed, holding his friend as he was curled in a ball.

"I'm fucking sorry, Ghoul," he managed to say through his tears. "I'm sorry I can't tell you." This time Ghoul knew he meant it.

"I know, I know, and it's okay that you can't tell me- I think I can at least accept that. I'm sorry I got so mad, I just- I was scared and worried, we all were. I thought I'd never see you again, Pois, and if you were dead I don't know what I'd do."

Poison let a giggle escape through his teeth. "You're my best fucking friend, you know that?" Poison took his head out of his arms briefly to flash a smile at Ghoul.

"No shit, Sherlock," Ghoul replied.

"You're an awful friend though." The red-haired killjoy unraveled from the position he was in. "You're the worst."

"Yeah, I know," Ghoul agreed. "I'm a terrible friend but at least I'm a terrible friend with better hair than you."

"Oh jesus fucking christ my hair is SO much cooler than yours," Poison argued. "And I don't have a face like a rat."

"Pisschild."

"Ratboy."

"Bitchbaby."

Though he was still crying, Poison couldn't even contain his laughter anymore. He burst into a fit of giggling (Pois' laugh, like his cry, is a thing to remember as well), and of course Ghoul couldn't help laughing as well because admittedly this whole situation ended up being really funny. Suddenly, the sound of an old engine revving echoed outside.

Ghoul perked up curiously, then sighed with relief upon seeing it was the trans am. "That must be Kobra and Jet. They must he going to the nest to get the vend-a-hack back. Thank god."

"Y'know, it also means Jet isn't here to yell at us when we stay up talking," Poison added.

"That's fair.." Ghoul replied. "They won't be gone for more than a half an hour so we gotta make the most of it."

"Let's go outside. It's cold in here."

"It's probably gonna be colder outside than in here, but go off."

"Fuck off, maybe I just wanna go outside," Poison exclaimed. "Are you coming or not?"

"Sure," Ghoul agreed. 

When the black-haired rebel walked outside, Poison was doing a little dance on the pavement in his bare feet. It was not a good dance, but he seemed happy. When he saw Ghoul, he stopped dancing and pointed up towards the stars.

"Look at those stars. Look at those fuckin stars. Those are fuckin beautiful stars," he said.

"Can't you go two seconds without being a sailormouth?" Ghoul asked sarcastically.

"Fuck no," Poison replied, cracking a little smile at the stupidity of the question.

Ghoul snorted. His eyes darted back up to the sky, then sat down with legs crossed on the pavement. Looking at the wide expanse above.. then over to the city, with its orange sky and no stars.

"Y'know, Pois, if I met you today I never would've guessed you were once a city kid." 

"Sometimes I forget too," Poison said nonchalantly. "Then I take a look at the city and remember."

"Do you ever miss it there?" 

Party Poison looked at Ghoul like he had three heads. "What??"

"Do you ever feel like you wanna go back?" 

Poison looked down at the asphalt at their feet. "Maybe once or twice. But, then I remembered why I'm here, and I never considered it again. The desert is my home."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two rebels. A friendly reminder of how empty and quiet the desert was at night, when the only sound is the gentle brushing of the witch's cloak as she wanders the desert collecting souls. 

"I'm really, really glad to have you back, Pois."

Poison smiled, showing his teeth. "I missed you too, dummy."

"Hey, do you want me to watch for tonight?" Ghoul offered.

Pois shook his head. "Oh no, no it's fine, I can watch tonight-"

"No, I insi-"

"Oh, well if you INSIST, then I guess I'll be off to bed now. Goodnight, fucker. See you in the morning." Pois walked past the shorter rebel, ruffling his black hair and fucking it up as he passed. Ghoul watched him walk all the way back into the motel, not taking his eyes off until he was sure he was inside. Once he was sure, Ghoul took the opportunity to lie down on the pavement. There he stayed for a large portion of the night.


	5. Chapter 5 - A Fun Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghoul flirts for drugs.  
> Poison confides in Kobra.

Chapter 5 - A Fun Day

 

"You know you talk in your sleep."

Party Poison came to, confused by his surroundings for a moment before coming to the realization that he was in his bedroom, in the motel. The sun was already fairly high in the sky. He didn't remember the dream he had, but it seemed like it had been pretty good. When his eyes darted up, he was looking through the cutout eyes of his yellow domino mask at Fun Ghoul. He was fully dressed, standing outside Poison's room, tapping on the side of the door frame impatiently.

Poison tensed a little in surprise. "Oh, Ghoul! You didn't-"

"Nah," the other rebel replied before Pois could finish his thought. "I slept in another room. These walls are just really, really thin. Don't worry, I didn't hear much."

"That's- not reassuring at all, but thank you, I think," Pois replied. "Oh, did Kobe and Jet get back? Did they find the vend-a-hack?" Heh, that rhymed.

"Yeah, actually, they did! We struck it lucky that no one stole it," Ghoul remarked. "You also slept through morning announcements, somehow. They announced that you were alive, so a lot of the angel cakes and merchants came out of hiding now that we're sure that nothing spooky is going on. So you and I are going to hit up some of the newly returned sellers and see if they've got anything good while Jet and Kobe go raid some vends."

"Hold on- I'm the leader, aren't I supposed to be involved in these conversations?" Poison asked.

"Well I would have woken you up but you look so darn cute when you sleep," Ghoul gushed. "So I gave you an extra hour or two. Now come outside whenever you're ready, the others are waiting in the parking lot."

Why did he- ok. Party Poison climbed out of bed and started to get ready to go out. "Uhh, could you.."

"Oh, yeah. See you soon." Ghoul turned around and closed the door behind him.

Ok, let's focus on the present. Party Poison threw on one of the few shirts he owned, tugged on a pair of ripped, paint-splattered jeans, and "combed" his hair by running three fingers through it exactly once. 

We're gonna have a cool day, he thought reassuringly. We're gonna have a fun day. And everything's going to be fine. 

As Poison prepared for another day in the desert, he thought about what happened the night before. Ghoul had seemed so vulnerable, which was obviously abnormal. He seemed okay now, but- Poison could never be entirely sure. He could never really be sure of anything. 

Poison sighed, loud, like he was trying to expel his worries via his mouth. Everything would be okay, right? 

Once Poison's boots were on tight, his gun was at his hip in its holster, and his mask was pressed on extra securely, he exited the motel and joined the others. 

"Wait, ok, so who's gonna take the trans am?" Poison asked.

"We are," said Kobra, who was sitting on the hood of the graffiti-covered car. 

Pois turned to Jet. “Tell me he’s not driving," he breathed.

"Oh god, hell no," Jet replied. He was standing next to the car, tracing the endless amount of sharpie-written 'na's with his fingers. "Until Kobra learns how to drive like a functioning human being I'm not even letting him touch the radio. Pois, you really gotta teach him how to park correctly."

"I'm gay, Jet, I can't park for shit," Poison griped.

"So is nearly everyone in the zones, Pois, you can't keep using your sexuality as a crutch to avoid learning how to drive correctly," Jet scolded.

Poison groaned. "I'm GAY though," he countered, almost in a lamentable fashion.

"To be fair, Jet, he is gay," Ghoul reasoned.

"THANK YOU," Poison exclaimed.

Jet rolled his eyes so hard that his irises probably could have gotten stuck behind his eyelids. "Whatever man, it's not like you're driving anyway."

"Haha, you losers have to walk," Kobra joked.

"Alright, then we should get going. Joys are dismissed, we'll regroup here in four hours' time. Be there or be vulture food," he ordered. 

Jet and Kobra both nodded. Kobra did finger guns and walked backwards until he stepped into the open door of the passenger side of the car. Jet ignored him and got into the driver's seat like a normal person. Soon the grey car sped away into the sun, until it was a grey dot with two beady black eyes getting ever smaller on the sharp horizon.

As soon as the trans am disappeared on the skyline, with Jet Star and the Kobra Kid inside, Ghoul clicked his tongue and nudged Poison. "Wow, you really fell right back into that leader persona of yours, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, what you just said was like, normal almost. Yesterday you were not.. that."

Poison shrugged. "I mean, yeah. I'm trying to make everything okay again. It's kind of my job to make sure you guys don't get in trouble."

"Seems like you do a lot of the trouble-causing for someone whose job it is to prevent it," the shorter killjoy chuckled.

Poison wasn't laughing, but there was a small smile lifting the corner of his mouth. He sighed. "Well, someone's gotta do it."

Ghoul nodded. "Should we get going then?"

"Hm?"

"On our walk," Let's start walking, dummy." 

"Oh. Alright," Pois answered, feeling rather stupid. Not because of anything he specifically said, just because of the fact that Ghoul called him a dummy. If anyone besides the fab 4 ever insulted Poison he wouldn't ever hesitate to break both their arms and legs, but due to the phenomenon of being a soft baby, Poison has a soft spot for the people he called his friends. He hated that soft spot.

Party Poison and Fun Ghoul started walking. Well, Ghoul started walking, and Poison quickly followed, walking a little faster to catch up to him, then proceeding to walk at the same pace, right in line with each other. The sun was now at about a 45 degree angle with the horizon, at the perfect angle to be RIGHT in Poison's eyes. Great. 

The two killjoys walked for a long time, exactly how long neither of them were really sure. Time was a construct and it was barely even a concept in the zones-- The important thing was that it was 2019. Plus, most Joy's had a basic idea of the time based on the position of the sun, but the sun hurt to look at, so sometimes time didn't matter. Poison knew it was going to be a while before they found any angel cakes because normally they only came out at night to avoid getting targeted by dracs, but since the desert got very cold at night during the winter months, and a lot of killjoys including the fab four figured it wasn't worth going out at night until the nights get hot in the summer. (Poison often described himself as a 'chilly bitch' whenever he was even minorly cold). And of course the addition of the fact that a bunch of the angel cakes were still in hiding even after Dr. D's announcement.

However, thankfully they weren't totally out of luck. Soon they came across a lone merchant with a table covered with goods ranging from canned bli beans to odd brown paper bags. Mystery bags, Poison thought. I haven't seen those get handed out since 2017. 

"Finally," Poison lamented.

"Alright, so I don't have a lot of money, so bear with me, I'm gonna get us some Good Deals," Ghoul said in a low, whispery voice, as if to make sure the angel cake couldn't hear.

"Got it," Poison murmured back. 

The two killjoys wandered closer. The angel cake standing there was clearly inexperienced, but couldn't have been much younger than Ghoul or Kobra. They donned a camo jacket that was so sun-faded that it was more pastel than camouflage, with an old white apron tied around their waist. Their blonde curly hair drooped gently over their forehead like ivy, their puffy cheeks flushed like pink roses, and their baby-blue eyes were round and full of innocence. 

They looked like a baby angel and Poison literally couldn't fucking stand it. They were so unbearably shiny that, much like the California sun, they physically hurt to look at. Jesus H. Christ, I hate them already, Pois thought. 

"Hey, you're-" The blond-haired boy hesitated. He lifted a finger and pointed at the two killjoys. "You're Party Poison and Fun Ghoul." 

Ah shit, here we go again. Party Poison looked at Ghoul knowingly. Ghoul shot him a glance that said 'Don't worry, I've got this.' 

"Yep, it's really us," Ghoul responded, his green eyes flashing with.. something. Not any emotion. Just something. 

The curly-haired angel cake, whom Poison would now refer to as Curlyboy for as long as he didn't know their name, stood up and extended their arms, smiling wide. Are they expecting a hug or what?? The display of their perfect teeth only made Poison resent them more. 

"So the whispers are true.. Party Poison is alive!!! I fricking knew it, someone as legendary as you could never die!" Curlyboy turned to Ghoul next. "Oh, and you must be Fun Ghoul, of course.. my god, what a friggin honor, honestly.. at my joint too!" 

Shut up, shut up, shut up, Poison repeated in his head. 

"So, um, since you guys are here, what can I get ya?" Curlyboy asked, biting their lower lip in a way that told Poison that they were an incredibly hatable person. Obviously he knew that already. But every second that passed only fueled a passionate disgust for the kid. Pois looked to Ghoul for an answer. 

"I like your jacket," Ghoul commented. Wait, but he didn't answer the question?

Curlyboy flushed bright pink, and somehow Pois's fiery hatred for them them burned even brighter. "Thank you! I like yours too. What do the symbols mean?" The blond-haired angel cake pointed at the patch on Ghoul's right rib.

Ghoul shrugged. "I dunno. They looked cool."

"They do look quite cool," Curlyboy giggled. 

Poison equipped a fake grin, baring gripped teeth. "Yep!" he breathed. "So anyways Ghoul, kindly remind me what we wanted to buy today?" 

Ghoul's focus drifted away from Curlyboy and back to Party Poison. "Oh, right. What are your prices?" 

The young angel cake nodded aggressively. "Mm! I've got an assortment of goods for you to choose from!" They gestured widely to the goods featured on the table. "2 carbons for water.." the angel cake said off the top of his head. "6 for beans, 4 for power pup. 3 for one piece of candy. 25 for a mystery bag."

"Wow, you must've been doing this for a while," Ghoul mentioned. "You said fifteen for the bags?"

"I- said twenty five," Curlyboy replied, a little confused. 

Poison's eyes flared. Suddenly he knew exactly what Ghoul was trying to accomplish by making small talk like this. He didn't like it. Not even a tiny bit. This entire excursion had been making him very irritated in his gay brain and watching Ghoul do... this.... wasn't helping at all.

Ghoul studied Curlyboy's face intently, while Poison tried his very best to not look at them at all. 

"Have I seen you before?" Ghoul asked

"W-What?"

"I swear I've seen you before, at a zone party. You go to the nest often?"

"Well, n-not exactly," they answered shakily. "I've b-been there before, for a few parties n' stuff but, I don't go to those often."

"Yeah ok I've definitely seen you before," Ghoul said.

"Wow," Poison remarked. "Anyways can we buy some stuff?" 

"Oh, y-yeah!" The angel cake laughed. 

"Mhm, so the bags are how much each?" Ghoul asked. 

"Uhh.." Curlyboy hesitated. "Y'know, I'll just give it to you for fifteen. You guys seem really cool."

"Thanks!" Ghoul remarked. 

"It's really no problem, I've just- been a big fan for a really long time and you guys are kinda legendary, and it's a real honor to meet you so-" Curlyboy rambled profusely, on and on. At this point their cheeks were flushed redder than Party Poison's hair and he finally managed to tune them out. 

What a babbler, Poison thought.

Ghoul didn't seen to be listening that intently to Curlyboy's tangent either. He just kept smiling and nodding. Poison could have sworn that the black-haired killjoy threw him a wink, but maybe that was his imagination getting the best of him. 

Get a hold of yourself. It's gonna be fine. 

Ghoul picked out two cans of beans, three candies and one mystery bag. He set fifty carbons' worth on the table. "Here's your change," Curlyboy said, shakily placing four loose carbons into Ghoul's palm. 

Ghoul took the money and shoved it in his pocket. "Well, we'd best be going. You're one floral guy, been nice chatting." 

Poison prayed to the witch that would be the end of the conversation. The prayers weren't answered. (They rarely were.) The conversation continued despite his best wishes. 

"You got a name?" Ghoul implored. Poison is actually going to DIE. 

The angel cake was hardly listening. He was too busy grinning from ear to ear. "A what?"

"Nevermind. See you at the nest sometime." Ghoul took the merchant's hand and shook it roughly. Curlyboy looked VERY interested. 

Okay, he DEFINITELY winked that time, Poison told himself. Geez, he's really laying it on thick. 

Curlyboy covered half of their face with their hands to hide how much they were blushing. It wasn't working. "Buh bye!!"

Neither Ghoul nor Poison bothered to wave goodbye back. Poison for one was sick of even looking at the guy. After finding out that he went to the nest, he felt like never going to the nest again. The red-haired killjoy balled his hands into fists, silently making a promise to himself that if they ever got together

"Well.." Pois said, awkwardly. "That was certainly, uhm…"

"Yeah, what a fuckin' twink," Ghoul laughed. 

Poison agreed, but didn't laugh. "Ghoul, I assume you didn't actually-" 

"Oh no," Ghoul assured. "I really just wanted to save a few carbons, I wouldn't have actually gone out with him. Maybe kissed him at a party at the VERY most, but he's really not my type." 

Poison nodded, but frowned. He could've made that clearer before explicitly flirting with him in front of me, he grumbled in his head. "Well at least we got a good deal out of all this."

"Yeah, geez. Fifteen carbons for a whole bag of weed? I feel like a highway robber, there's no way that's legal," Ghoul agreed.

"The zones are a lawless land." Poison shrugged. "Also, there's not just weed in here. Don't you remember the mystery bags from 2017? Like I knew they kinda went out of style but geez, did you already forget?"

"Oh, I knew them as surprise bags, but yeah I remember. We got so much wacky shit out of these things," Ghoul replied. 

Poison nodded, smiling in reminiscence. "We were so fuckin awful back then. We were probably shitfaced for over 75% of those years."

"I hate to break this to you, but not much has changed since then, Pois," Ghoul said. "And don't act like you don't enjoy it."

"A lot of times I totally do," Poison admitted. "Other times I feel like my favorite days are the days that I don't smoke crack," he continued. 

"Sober days are weird like that. They can be heaven or hell depending on what's been going on," Ghoul smiled and spat a forced laugh that told Poison that he shouldn't ask for why he said that. 

Ghoul loved talking to Poison. Poison loved talking in general. They had a very good dynamic and naturally they talked a lot, but this had been a very long walk so naturally they quickly ran out of things to talk about. The only sound was Poison cursing the sun under his breath and the sound of his heels clicking against the asphalt. This allowed for maybe a little too much thinking time for Poison.

What the fuck was up with that kid?? 

Why did he look like that?? Why did he dress like that???

If I had looked like that in my early joy days I would've gotten shot on sight.

Ghoul didn't- actually wink at him did he???? 

Am I dying???

I can feel all of my organs giving out.. is this the end?

Party Poison flicked the sweat off of his brow.

Quit being dramatic. Everything will be okay. 

Poison nodded to no one, swallowing. 

"I know it's annoying to deal with people like that," Ghoul assured. "But it's not gonna stop anytime soon so we might as well try to make the most out of it."

Poison grumbled. "I bet Mike Milligram never had to deal with kids asking for autographs." 

"Mike Milligram was in the desert before anyone knew who he was," Ghoul mused. "He wasn't really a celebrity until he got himself killed. Of course there would'a been people asking him for stuff like that if anyone knew who he was before he passed," Ghoul reasoned. 

"He was cool though," Poison said. 

"He was," Ghoul replied. "Too bad we'll never get to meet him."

"Don't remind me."

Party Poison chose not to say anything else. He maintained a neutral expression and fiddled with his yellow mask. Besides the rest of the fab 4, Mike Milligram was probably his favorite person of all time. He couldn't even tell you why, to be perfectly honest. Hyperfixations tend to function weirdly like that, huh? He was just... so COOL. And Poison wanted to be like him. He was his hero. 

Stop it. You're thinking too much again. Focus on the present. 

"Mhm," Poison breathed. 

"What?" Ghoul turned to Poison, confused. 

"I didn't say anything."

Before Ghoul decided to open his mouth again, the two were back at the motel. 

Muffled chattering could be heard from inside. God, the others are back already? 

Poison pushed through the door.

Kobra was laying on the couch in the waiting room, holding a can of powerpup up to the ceiling fan and slowly turning it using his thumb and forefinger to read the tiny printed text on the label, below the iconic BL/ind symbol with its haunting smile. 

"Gee, Jet, the back of this powerpup can says that buying BLI products induces a WILD euphoria!"

"Yeah, maybe we should try it sometime!" Jet laughed.

It took Kobra a minute to notice that the other two killjoys were even present. 

"Oh. Hello, boys!" Jet finally said. 

"You're hella late," Kobra commented. "Who's vulture food now?"

Ghoul glanced at the clock. "Four hours hasn't passed yet."

"Yeah well we've been home for over an hour, so suck it," Kobra replied, setting the can down. 

"It's a lot easier to get around when you're in a car," Ghoul mumbled. 

Poison set all the stuff he and Ghoul had gotten on the table, next to Jet and Kobra's stuff, for all to see. "So what did we get, gang?" He announced loudly, taking his seat on the table betwixt the two couches next to the cans of power pup that had been provided. (though there were still multiple seats on the couches available to him).

"Kobe and I got a shit ton of power pup," Jet replied. "Waters and stuff."

"I got another good luck sticker," Kobra added, gesturing to the one out of seven (seven!) other stickers plastered onto the back of his backpack. 

"That backpack is going to be completely covered in stickers pretty soon soon," Poison commented.

"That's the goal, so long as I keep gettin' em free," Kobra replied. 

Jet dismissed the two brothers. "Ghoul, what did you two boys get?"

"We got the basics," Ghoul said plainly. "Plus candy, and a mystery bag."

"Ooooh," Kobra cooed.

"Ghoul also found something else," Poison mumbled. 

"Oooooh!!" Kobra exclaimed, louder this time. "What?"

"Nothing, he just flirted a lot with this stupid merchant." 

"They weren't that stupid," Ghoul interjected. "They were the ones who gave us weed for fifteen carbons. Anywhere else that'd be considered highway robbery. You should probably be grateful, Party Poison. 

Poison swallowed. "Mmmhm."

"And you do know I wasn't actually planning on like, getting with them right?"

"Yep," Poison replied. 

Ghoul turned to the other two "Don't listen to him. I was only flirting with him for easy deals on drugs. It's really not that big of a deal."

Kobra smirked. Jet said nothing. 

Poison said several things. He just refrained from saying them with his lips.

"Ahh, I'm thirsty. Anyone else want a water?" Kobra said, breaking the awkward silence.

"GOD, YES," Poison exploded, holding up his hands, signalling to Kobra that he was to throw one of the waters to his brother. 

Kobra tossed him a bottle. Poison did not catch it. 

The plastic bottle decked the red-haired 'joy right in the fucking face. With a shrill shriek, he collapsed onto one of the couches.

"Jesus, Kobe!" Jet exclaimed. 

"Shit, dude!" Kobra replied, rushing to Poison on the couch. 

"You hit him hard!" Ghoul said. 

"I'm okay!" Poison breathed, sitting up and dislodging the throat of the bottle from the inside of his mask, pushing its other end against his skull to make sure it didn't fall off. 

Kobra kid brushed a bit of red hair out of Poison's face to check on his eye. "Are you sure? Hold on, let me check-" 

"Hey hey, hands off the mask until these two aren't around," Poison replied.

"Oh, right," Kobra confirmed. Jet rolled his eyes. Poison shot him a glare. "Should we get into a room?" asked the taller of the two brothers. 

"Yeah, sure," Poison replied.

Poison got up, his hand still over his wounded eye, with Kobra following close behind, and the two brothers went to a room, alone. 

In any other situation in which Poison was hiding something, Jet and Ghoul would sell their souls to find out the truth. But Poison was so silently personal about it and his face had been hidden for so long that his iconic yellow domino mask may have well been his real face. 

Poison turned the lock on the door behind him and closed the blinds, just in case. He sighed loudly, taking off the mask, revealing his ██████ eyes. (Nice try. You're not getting that info that easily.) 

"I've been itching to take that damned thing off since I left," Poison lamented. 

"You didn't take it off at all when you were gone?" 

"Nope," Poison replied. "Was too paranoid that someone would find me at the wrong moment, and see something they're not supposed to see." A smile crept across his face, which seemed inappropriate for the comment it went with. 

"Alright.. Lie down," Kobra ordered, and Poison did as told. Kobra grabbed a dry rag from a drawer and poured a tiny amount of cold water into it. "Hold still." Poison held still as his younger brother gently dabbed the cold cloth onto the areas around his eye that were beginning to bruise. 

"You're too good to me, y'know," Poison declared quietly.

"It's the least I could do honestly. I just feel bad for hitting you," Kobra replied.

"I mean, I know that much, but like, it's not like you wouldn't still do it even if, say, Ghoul threw it," Poison responded, smirking. 

"That's because Ghoul doesn't know how to do it himself," Kobra laughed. 

Poison cracked a smile, but said nothing, keeping his eyes closed and making sure to stay still while Kobra cleaned his eye. 

"There we go- all better." Kobra removed the cloth from Poison's face. It ached, but for the most part, it felt better. 

"Thanks, dude," Poison said. 

"S'no problem dude," Kobra replied. There was a pause. "Hey, since you're here, and no one else is around..."

Poison raised his eyebrows. Ah, so this is happening now. "Did you get me in here purposefully?" 

"No, actually," Kobra responded. "Though I could have if I wanted to, it was just convenient. But since we weren't together earlier, let's talk about that. I'm kinda curious."

Poison shrugged. "I mean, okay. There really isn't much to talk about, but if you want to, we can."

"All I know is there was something about a flirty angel cake and you sounded really bitter."

"Did I really sound that bitter?" 

"Kinda, yeah."

Poison didn't like that answer. "Alright, well.. where do I start."

"Well, what happened when you guys went out?"

Poison thought for a moment. "We were walking for probably an hour when we found the first person selling stuff. They were like- they were even shorter than Ghoul so they must've been like, 4 feet tall or something. They looked like a baby angel and I hated them from the get go but it seems like Ghoul liked them a whole lot because he started being reeeeal nice and I guess the guy caught on because he started babbling like an idiot and turning all pink in the face and-" 

Kobra laughed, loudly. "Slow DOWN, Party Poison."

"what, are you having trouble keeping up?" 

"No, I'm keeping up just fine, it's just that- I don't know if you notice, but- you're rambling and you sound like a totally jealous idiot," Kobra chuckled. 

"What the fuck- I'm not jealous??" Poison accused. 

"Yeah, you're jealous," Kobra replied. 

"Oh my god.. I'm jealous!" Poison realized. He flushed a bright hue of red, and his hand clasped over his mouth. 

"Took you long enough to realize." 

Poison was genuinely surprised at himself. "Okay, wait-"

"Mhm? I'm listening."

Poison was about to fiddle with his mask, but realized it wasn't there. "I.. it really didn't feel good watching him flirt with another person."

Kobra nodded. "I mean, you've obviously got a huge thing for Ghoul." 

Poison was silent. He stared at the ground, his stomach tied in knots. 

"And I know you want him to like you too," Kobra finished.

"I don't know if I like him or not though," Poison admitted. "Like we've been friends for a long time and obviously he's a great looking dude, but I've always considered it more of an emotional attachment?"

"I mean, you two have kissed before, right?"  
"God, yes," Poison said dreamily. "..But we were both absolutely shitfaced and every time it happened he woke up the next day and pretty much forgot it happened. Besides, Ghoul's kissed everyone at least once."

"Not Cherri," Kobra commented. "They've never kissed."

"I don't know if Cherri will ever get to kiss any of us," Poison countered. 

“Fair point.”

Poison nodded, biting the inside of his lip while he tried to figure out what to say next. "But Ghoul's kissed you, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, like twice," Kobra replied. "He's a sloppy kisser." 

"He is!" Poison exclaimed. "But my point is, I think that goes to show that like, there's nothing there, y'know?"

"There's really no way to tell for sure, you might just have to wait and see." 

Pois looked uneasy. "Eh… I dunno, man. Maybe it's just not worth getting into."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like.. if it doesn't work out, then we wouldn't really be able to get rid of each other. Besides, all in all it's probably something that'll go away in time."

Kobra raised his eyebrows. "Well, put some more thought into it. The nest is gonna be open in a few days. If you can dodge the onslaught of questions you'll get about where you disappeared to, you might be able to spend some quality time with Ghoul and decide for yourself." 

"Maybe I will!" Poison nodded. "Although I think we should probably get going, the others are gonna start thinking we're gossiping."

Kobra nodded. "I mean, we are."

Poison was already refastening his mask, unknowing of when it might come off again. He unlocked and opened the door. 

"We're back!" He exclaimed.


	6. Chapter 6 - Catching Bugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fab 4 save a kid's life.  
> Poison is tired.

Chapter 6 - Catching Bugs

 

Ghoul poked his head into the hallway from the lobby. "Hey!" He called, a smile appearing across his face. "Is your eye okay?"

"Yep, just needed to be cleaned out," Kobra answered and nodded. "Everything's alright."

"Thank the witch," Jet said, relieved. 

"I'll be okay, Jet," Poison assured. "You really gotta quit worrying about me, dude. I'm good, for real."

Jet sighed. "I'm doing my best," he replied, sitting back down. 

"Oh yeah, Pois, there's a flyer over there that says there's a party going on at the nest in a week," Ghoul mentioned. 

"Oh, cool," Poison replied, though he had already knew. Turns out the nest had been closed for parties for a good while due to the whole mystery behind Party Poison's suspected death. Now that he was alive again, though- it was fair game for wild nights once again. Part of him was dreading that party, but... 7 days was plenty of time to plan what he was going to say or do, right? "We'll have to be there, this'll be the first party I attend since I came back, after all." 

"Yeah, you're probably gonna have to prepare for a ton of questions," Jet remarked. 

"Oh don't worry, I'll definitely be prepared." Poison winked, though it wasn't noticeable through his dark mask. 

"Unless, of course, by 'prepared' you mean sober, in which case Pois will likely be very unprepared," Kobra chimed in, sticking his tongue out at his brother. 

"Piss off," the red-haired killjoy spat. 

Ghoul chuckled. "Relax, Pois. It's not like any of us will be sober either, and I sincerely doubt anyone else at the nest will be either."

"We're all just drunk all the time," Poison replied with a sigh.

"I mean, yeah," Ghoul agreed. "That sums it up pretty well."

"Welcome to the zones, where our slogan is We're All Drunk All The Time!" Jet exclaimed in his best announcer voice.

In the motel, the outside windows were quite thin, which made it hard to sleep at night but quite easy to hear commotion going on outside during the day. Be it reapers, crows or dracs, somehow everyone inside could always hear whatever was going on outside, not unlike how juvie halls always managed to get the scoop on zone drama from the city. 

Before anyone could say anything, through the thin windows, a shriek rang out from beyond the motel parking lot. Poison perked up, his eyes darting around suspiciously, and the four exchanged worried glances. 

"Go, go, go!!!" Poison declared. The others exchanged nods and jumped into action. 

Poison was always the fastest of the four. He had the legs to carry him, and carry they did. The others followed close behind, Poison extending his arms to protect the others from any potential harm, although he knew they could very well protect themselves, he was the leader and he felt responsible. (Ghoul hated it. Jet hated it. Kobra pretended to hate it.) 

The four fabulous killjoys glanced around, looking for the source of the sound. It wasn't difficult to find. The scraping sound of worn sneakers on the asphalt directed Party Poison's eyes to the figure of a very, very panicked young boy- short, couldn't have been older than 14- with ruffled black hair that was all in his face, wearing a red plaid flannel, faded jeans and worn reeboks. The poor kid was running for dear life as fast as his little legs could take him down the getaway mile. Exactly what he was running from, Poison wasn't sure, but he had a few ideas. 

The boy practically crashed into Party Poison, and if he were heavier he probably could've easily caused Poison to topple right over like a domino. His pale arms grasped tight on the side of Pois's dead pegasus jacket. 

"Please," the boy sputtered. "They've been after me all day. I took some food from their camp last night and they tracked me down and now they won't leave me alone," he huffed.

"Whoa, slow down kid. Who won't leave you alone?" 

Still wrapped around the taller killjoy's waist, the boy looked up with a terrified look in his eyes. "The draculoids."

Shit. 

Of course it was dracs. Poison had a sliver of hope that it would be another group of killjoys that were just bitter that they had some supplies stolen and they would be able to talk it out, but of course not. His second day back and Pois already had to jump right back into action. 

Cheap trick, the red-haired killjoy muttered to the witch, though she seldom listened.

It was only then that the sound of tires on cracked asphalt reached the killjoys' ears. Instinctively, Poison's hand reached down to grab his gun tight in the holster at his hip, his eyes wide with anticipation. 

A smile crept across Ghoul's face. He had probably been anticipating more action ever since Poison got back, to which the red-haired killjoy couldn't relate. Jet and Kobra grabbed their guns too, nodding to each other.

"No time to lose, sandsuckers!" Poison barked. "Get in the fuckin' car! Look alive!" 

"What about the kid?" Kobra replied.

"He can come too! Just hurry the hell up!" 

Ghoul took the boy by his arm. "C'mon, kid, we're going for a joyride."

The boy was starry-eyed. "I've never even been in a car before!"

Ghoul smiled. "Congrats, kid. I'm sure you're gonna have a great time."

The kid nodded, eyes unblinking. He was clearly totally starstruck. 

"Pois, there's only four seats!" Jet yelled.

"I don't give a fuck how many seats there are, he can sit between the two backseats, just get in the fucking car so we can hit the pavement already!" 

"Aye aye!" Jet gestured to Ghoul, who let go of the boy's arm and nodded to him to go to Jet. The kid nodded back and dashed to the trans am. 

As soon the four killjoys- and the kid- were safely inside the car, Poison fastened his mask tighter than ever and slammed down on the break, driving far away from the motel and far away from the source of the sound of the drac car. They had made it, though just in time. It wasn't over. 

Ghoul let out a joyous, yet absolutely terrifying, blood-curdling scream (he tended to. He liked screaming, for whatever reason. Poison supposed that was just how he expressed joy. and who would he be to get in the way of that?). The kid they had picked up looked fucking petrified, but there was a HUGE grin on his face that it seemed like he couldn't wipe away. 

"This is the best day of my life," the kid breathed.

"This is what happens when you're running with the killjoys, kid," Ghoul replied, sticking his hand out the window to feel the wind blow through his fingers. 

"I really like your hair," the boy complimented. 

Ghoul looked flattered. "Thanks! I like yours too." 

Poison focused on driving. No time to focus on anything else. When there was danger, especially if there was a kid involved, the number one priority was always to keep the others safe. Keep this kid safe. Keep Kobra safe. Keep Ghoul and Jet safe. 

Kobra turned to the kid, who was sitting on the floor of the backseat between the two normal seats. "Hey! By any chance do you got a name, kiddo?"

The kid looked minorly alarmed by this question, like he had never been asked his name before. "W-well.. not exactly," the kid stuttered. "But, the kids in my area have taken to calling me Bug. I don't mind it, but there's probably a better name for me out there, yknow?"

"Well, if you're lucky, Ghoulie might give ya a name himself," Kobra replied. "He's kind of a wiz at coming up with kickass killjoy names."

"Can confirm," Ghoul replied. "I've got a list of potential names that I might use in a situation where I have to change my entire identity. But I also let nameless joys use 'em for 10 carbons a pop."

"I don't have any money," Bug replied sadly.

"Oh don't sweat it- you're young, no one expects you to be rolling in it. I'd give a kid like you a name free of charge. 

Bug's face lit up. He must've been thinking, free shit! 

"Gotcha," Bug replied, doing finger guns.

Poison was only taking in half of this conversation. He was so hyperfocused on driving that he was practically seeing red. Right now, the only thing that mattered was keeping the others safe. 

The drac car had come into view. Jet stared them down through the tail window, then turned to Poison in the front seat. Seemed like Jet was just as serious about all this as him. "Faster, you son of a bitch, go faster!" 

"I'm fuckin' trying!" Poison yelled back. He had most of his weight on the gas pedal.

"Oh, FUCK this," Kobra exclaimed, pushing down the back window. His red ray gun in hand, he stuck his head out of the car to get a better sense of what was where. He shot twice, at what Party Poison couldn't tell from the front seat. He could make out a low "dammit" from Kobra, indicating that whatever his target was had not been hit. 

Bug was covering his eyes. This was clearly all new and scary for him. Poison didn't blame the kid. He had probably acted the same when he was a young joy. 

Ok, that was a lie, Pois was always kind of a badass, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel bad for Bug.

"Okay, clearly this isn't fucking working," Poison groaned. "Listen up, sandsuckers! Jet, you keep watch." 

Jet nodded and turned around to do so.

"Kobra, your job is to make sure the kid doesn't like, actually explode. Make sure he's okay."

"Aye aye, cap'n," Kobra replied, saluting sarcastically. Bug nodded, still starstruck.

"Ghoul?"

Fun Ghoul turned. "Yes?"

Poison took a long sip from his fruit juice.

"Take the wheel."

Ghoul's eyes widened. He nodded, leaning from the shotgun seat over to where the steering wheel was while Poison leaned forward out the window with his yellow gun in hand. 

Eyes on the prize. 

Poison closed one eye and let his conscious take over. For things like this, he liked to imagine it was a game. Just a shooting game, with severely limited ammunition and a chance that you might die in real life, but- a game nonetheless.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three white-hot particles of light shot from the ray gun. From the back, Bug winced from the loud sound.

"WOO!" Ghoul exclaimed, still hunched over, holding the wheel with one hand. 

"Didja get 'em?" Bug questioned. 

"Right in the hood," Pois answered. "Jet, check if I got the engine."

Jet nodded, turning around to check on the drac car through the back window. 0"Yep, it's smoking alright," he answered.

"Did they stop?" Bug asked, his voice shaking a little from the pressure.

"They're slowing down," Jet replied. "Nope, they're stopping now." 

Poison cursed under his breath. He was happy that ordeal didn't last that long, but he would've been a lot happier if it hadn't happened at all. 

"They're getting out now," Jet reported. 

Poison took his foot off the gas pedal. The trans am slowed to a stop. The others looked confused. Why was he stopping?

Party Poison took a sip from his juice. "Have you ever shot a drac, Bug?"

Bug shook his head. "I've never even held a real gun before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Poison replied. "I'm opening the sunroof. I want you to take my gun and shoot anything that comes out of that car. Don't let them see your face." 

Bug's eyes widened. He nodded, taking the gun from Poison's hand while the redheaded rebel had his finger down on the sunroof controller. 

"Go get 'em, kid!" Kobra encouraged. 

"And don't fuck it up," Poison added quietly.

Bug raised his arm through the sunroof as the painted glass disappeared into the interior of the roof. Bang.

Did he actually get them?

"I got one!” Bug exclaimed.

"You did??!" Ghoul said enthusiastically.

"Yeah!!!"

Kobra gave him a hard pat on the back. "Dude, I thought you'd never held a gun before! You're a natural!"

"Me and my gang play a lot of paintball and video games," Bug replied, shyly

While the others were celebrating the victory, Poison poked his head through the sunroof. Sure enough, there was a drac, dead on the ground. No blood. Hm.

"I'm not sure he's dead, gang. You wanna go check?" Poison took the gun back from Bug and fiddled with it for a second before hastily placing it back in its holster, though not securing it, in case anything else happened. 

Bug ducked back into the car. "If he's actually dusted, do I get to kick him in the head?"

"Sure," Poison answered.

"Tight!" 

Ghoul glanced at Poison. Sorry, he mouthed back. Poison knew Ghoul often empathized with dracs, but.. the kid wanted to do it. Besides, the drac was most likely already dead, so did it even matter?

Ghoul opened the car door. The others followed not far behind while the black-haired killjoy ran over to examine the body.

Ghoul sighed. "Yep, you got him ghosted alright. Right in the right rib." The black-haired killjoy gestured to the wound, on the rib like Ghoul said, already cauterized due to the white heat.

"Hells to the yeah!" Bug exclaimed. He jumped up in the air and drop-kicked the drac's head as hard as possible. 

There was a loud, sharp cracking noise. Bug put his hand over his mouth with a short, very restrained gasp, his eyes wide. The others were silent for a moment. 

He snapped his fucking neck!

"Well if he wasn't dead, he surely is now!" Kobra supposed.

"I guess that's kill count 1 for Bug," The short boy shrugged. 

"Was there really only one drac in the car? I have a hard time believing that." Jet crossed his arms. 

"I guess so. Must've lost his gang I suppose," Poison answered.

"There were a lot more in the cloud I stole from. I guess they thought they only had to send one because I'm tiny and easy to pick off," Bug replied. "I guess they didn't suppose I would have backup from the most famous killjoys in the zones."

Poison nodded, thinking. He turned to Bug. "Hey, turn around real quick?"

"I- okay?" Bug did as told. 

Party Poison approached Bug's back and started to fiddle with the collar of his flannel. 

Bug turned his head to see what was going on. "Hey, wh-"

"Gimme a sec." 

Poison held the flannel's tag in between two fingers. Just as I thought. There was a tiny hook on the end of the tag, with a center stone. The stone was meticulously painted black, with two haunting black eyes and a straight white smile. 

The BLI symbol. 

"Fuckin' knew it," Poison muttered. "No wonder those dracs managed to track you down. This is a tracker." 

All the color drained from Bug's face. "Lemme see that."

Party Poison handed the younger 'joy the tracker. Bug circled it around in his fingers. 

"Wow, I.. didn't even notice it."

"I'm not surprised. It's not very distinct.

Ghoul examined the tracker too. "How long have you been in the zones, kid? I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing that those paranoid-ass BL/ind freaks put on juvie halls to make sure they don't try to escape the city."

Bug's hand went to his chin. "Only like, six weeks. I escaped the city lookin' for Momma but the radio man told me the witch got her."

"Doctor D told you that? Well he's probably not fibbing," Kobra commented.

"Have you got a gang yet?" Jet asked.

"Not really, I've got a few other kids in my area but.. they aren't too nice to me."

Poison squinted. "Are they looking for you?"

"Certainly by now they're wondering where I am. They're probably searching, but probably only because they're afraid that whatever got me is gonna get them too.

Party Poison bent down and put his hands on Bug's shoulders. "Kid, they are your gang. Even if they don't like you all that much, if they care about you enough to search for you, they're your gang. Stick with them. They'll help you."

"What he said," Jet chimed in. "There are some days when I can't stand these guys but we're sticking it to the very end."

"You know you love us, Jet," Kobra replied.

"Pfft, shut up," Jet exclaimed, turning a bit pink. 

Bug nodded. "I.. I think I understand now. Thank you, fabulous killjoys. Thank you for helping me understand things. I'm.. gonna go back to my gang now."

"We'll see you around the zones, kid," Ghoul promised. 

"Hopefully," Bug agreed. "Man, my gang is never gonna believe me when I tell 'em that the fabulous killjoys saved my life!"

"Well tell 'em to believe it," Poison replied. "It's not that unbelievable." 

"Yeah, I guess." Bug nodded. "Oh yeah! Fun Ghoul, did you ever come up with a kickass name for me??"

Ghoul thought for a second. "Hmm. Y'know, I think Bug is a cool enough name on its own." 

Bug flushed. "R-really?"

"Yeah, dude! You're a bug. You get in people's faces. You're like an infestation! You and your hive are out to get those dracs!"

"..Hey, you're right! I am a bug!" Bug exclaimed. "I'm coming for ya, dracs!" 

Poison had been pretty quiet throughout this conversation. Bug was a cute and cool kid, but the issue was that Pois didn't particularly feel like jumping right back into drac action (draction?) less than two days of getting back from hell.

"Well, I gotta get back to my group. Thanks again, fabulous killjoys."

"See you in the zones, pup. Try not to die," Ghoul said, waving. 

"I'll do my best, sir." Bug did finger guns while walking backwards, then turned around and dashed the other way. 

The other killjoys waved goodbye along with Ghoul. Poison didn't wave. He didn't even say goodbye. He was too busy being lost in thought.

Soon the younger killjoy was a black and red dot on the horizon. Ghoul put his hand down. 

Something about Poison's expression must have put him off. "You ok, Pois?" 

An easy snap back to reality. Abruptly, and without further thought to an extent, Poison spoke with a deadly serious voice. "When we get back to the motel, I want all of us to search every clothing item they own. Inside and out. I wanna make sure those freaks at BLI aren't tracking us." 

Ghoul reached out to touch Poison's shoulder. "Pois, they're not tracking us. If they were they would have sent people to get us by now." 

Poison batted Ghoul's hand away. "I don't fucking care, Ghoul. Basic safety precautions. I'm not going to risk getting chased down by dracs like that kid."

Ghoul opened his mouth to object, to tell his friend that it was gonna be okay, but Kobra's cold hand on his shoulder signalled for him to shut up.

"Let's just drive back already," Poison muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this one!!! I know it didnt have that many cute moments but I really enjoyed writing it so I hope you guys like it as much as I liked creating it :Dc also this will NOT be Bug's last appearance, so.. stay tuned uwu :)


	7. The Envelope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something different about Ghoul.   
> Kobra and Poison have an important discussion.   
> Poison almost breaks every bone in his body.

Chapter 7  
The Envelope  
Party Poison was in the motel bedroom, going through all his shirts and pants to make sure there were no trackers inside. So were the rest of the gang. He ran his fingers through his hair. Today hadn't been a good day. Way too much interaction for a guy to handle- Bug was a cool kid but, caused a lot of ruckus over nothing much of anything. And Pois didn't even want to think about the angel cake they had met. To be frank, his mental battery was just hella drained.  
The last shirt had been thoroughly scanned. Into the pile it went, along with a plethora of similar shirts with similar designs, save for a few exceptions, but those were seldom worn.  
Poison threw on a shirt at the top of the pile- a plain grey tank top, with low arm holes that showed off the sides of his upper back. It was practically ragged, but he had owned it ever since he came to the desert, having found it at the top of a clearance bin in Tommy’s shop, back when it was still just a stand in the desert.   
Tugging on a pair of leather pants, Poison made his way back to the lobby. Ghoul was the only one who had made it there yet, the others were still going through their clothes. Makes sense. He owns the least stuff out of all of us, Poison thought.   
Ghoul looked up. He was wearing a tank top as well, but with slightly more reserved sleeves, and the bottom of the shirt didn't quite reach the top of his pants. It wasn't an intentional crop, merely a shirt that got too small. Otherwise, he was wearing leather pants (they were generally common in the zones), and his black hair was tied back with a dark blue rubber band, which he rarely did, and it was a nice surprise. His jaw moved up and down, so he must've been chewing gum.  
"Hey," he said through his gum.   
"Hey," Poison repeated. "Sorry for getting kinda mad earlier, I was just a bit freaked out is all. You handled it pretty well though."  
"Yeah, I get it," Ghoul replied. "It's chill."   
Poison tried not to make direct eye contact with Ghoul. He felt kind of guilty. "I haven't seen you wear that shirt in a long time."  
"Yeah, I thought if I was gonna go through all of my clothes I might as well get some of them into the wash," Ghoul responded. "So I ended up wearing this kinda trashy shirt that doesn't need to be washed because I never wear it."  
"I think it looks fine," Poison defended.   
"Eh. It might look better on you than on me."  
Poison awkwardly pushed a lock of red hair behind his ear. "Where's your vest? I barely ever see you without it."  
"S'in the wash too," Ghoul replied.   
Poison was kind of surprised. He didn't remember a single time he had seen Ghoul wash that thing. There were like, actual layers of dirt and sand on it most of the time.   
Ghoul looked totally careless. He had his whole body stretched out on the couch, his hands behind his neck, and his lack of sleeves showed off his tattoos, whereas his usual attire only showed the small stick-and-pokes that scattered his fingers and hands, with the occasional pushing of his sleeves up to elbow level when it got unbearably hot.   
"Who's doin' the washing?"   
"Tommy," Ghoul replied. "Did a little trade-off with him at the shop, ended up giving him one of Kobe's old tank tops and he only charged me seven carbons for the whole load."   
"You took one of Kobe's shirts??" Poison asked, a little confused. "Did you tell him??"  
"Well, no," Ghoul answered. "But he won't miss it much. He's got the most clothes out of all of us. And you and him swap clothes all the time."  
"Wh-" Party Poison paused. "Which shirt did you give him?"  
"Uhh.." Ghoul stopped to recall. "His Star Wars one. The Empire Strikes Back. He like never wears it."   
Poison frowned. I've worn that shirt before. But it was alright. The shirt would probably circulate back to Kobra eventually. Nothing ever stayed in Tommy's shop too long.   
"Hand me one of those waters, would ya?" Ghoul pointed towards the brand water bottles stationed on the coffee table.   
"Why you can't get one yourself is beyond me, but yes sir," Poison agreed. He leaned down and picked one up, handing it to Ghoul.   
"Thankies," Ghoul replied, flicking the cap off and taking a sip. Now that his arms were down, Poison had a full view of all Ghoul's tattoos. He had been getting them slowly but surely since he was sixteen- not long after he and Poison met for the first time, actually. So Poison remembered when his arm was a pale, clean canvas. Over the years new tattoos popped up, growing into an ensemble of art that speckled his-  
Hey, what's that??  
There was a small stick and poke of an envelope that had appeared on Ghoul's shoulder.  
That tattoo surely wasn't there before…   
Poison was sure of it. When Poison was sure of something, he would put his entire life on it. It didn't even matter that much. He just knew he was right. He had to be.   
He wasn't about to ask about it- rule number 1 of being Ghoul's friend was not questioning his tattoos, he had some weird ones after all- but still, it wasn't going to disappear from his mind anytime soon.   
When Poison finished zoning out, he noticed Ghoul had moved to the other couch, still sipping his water. The arm with the envelope tattoo was no longer visible from Poison's position. Eugh.  
Poison knew not to bring it up. It would only annoy Ghoul and, for whatever reason, it seemed like he didn't feel like talking. Ghoul was an extrovert, he was only dismissive when there was something that was bothering him, but to bug him about it is to wish for a slow and painful death by way of his rodent like talons. (Or maybe just a grudge.)  
"I think I'm gonna go check on my clothes," Ghoul said, getting up.  
"Alright, I'll hold down the fort 'til you're back," Poison replied.   
The motel door closed. Ghoul had left without another word. Is he okay?  
Poison could only hope that Ghoul was alright. Usually when there was something on his mind, he waited until he was alone to put any thought into it, but it seemed like whatever this was had been bothering him consistently since yesterday.   
Don't worry about it, something in Poison's brain assured. If it had anything to do with you, he would have told you by now.  
But that wasn't usually how it worked with Ghoul. Poison didn't want to lie to himself just to worry less. And with the way he had acted last night..  
"Hey, did someone take my Star Wars shirt?" Kobra's voice called from his room.   
"...No." Poison didn't want to snitch on Ghoul. He'd find out eventually, one way or another.  
"Hm." Kobra took a second to play with his own hair while he thought. "Where's Ghoul? He's not in his room."  
"He went out to wash his clothes," Poison replied.   
"Oh, well of course he was finished first- he owns the least clothes out of all of us," Kobra laughed. "Wait, did he go-"  
"No, Kobes, he did not go out bare-ass naked. He has a tank top and leather pants," Poison interrupted.   
"Oh thank fuck," Kobra said, relieved.   
Poison smacked his lips. "Hey, do you know what's up with him, by any chance?"  
"Hm?"   
"With Ghoul. He's been acting weird since I got back."   
Kobra kept a neutral expression, but he swallowed and kept his eyes focused on other things. "He missed you a lot, Party Poison."   
"I know, but like.. we talked about all this already. Last night. I thought everything was going to go back to normal, but he still seems on edge," Poison explained. "And it seems like he's hiding things, which he never does.  
Kobra looked at his brother, his eyes secreting something- concern, almost. "Sometimes it takes longer than a night to forgive someone for betraying them, Poison."  
"..Betraying? Is that your word or his?"   
Kobra did not speak. Party could only make an educated guess on what he would've said.   
He sat down again, slumped on the couch. "Aw, man. I really fucked him up in those two weeks, huh?"  
"It was a nasty shock for him, definitely." Kobra nodded, at what Poison couldn't comprehend. "You two were- and still are- so joined at the hip that spending two weeks without you took a real toll on him. Jet and I- we kinda just had to watch it happen and hope he got better one way or another."  
Poison waited for Kobra to finish talking. He didn't.   
"..Are you going to tell me more about what happened?"  
Kobra sighed, wearing a frown. "Talk to Ghoul about it yourself, I've already said enough."   
"Hey, what, are we hiding things from each other now?" Poison looked hurt. "I thought we were supposed to tell each other everything."  
"I'm not going to sit here with you and gossip about Ghoul's problems. They're not my business anyway, and frankly, they're not yours either."   
Poison felt shame well up in his heart. Kobra always knew just what to say or do to make him feel bad. Not bad in general, just made him feel less for himself and more for the people that surrounded him. Empathy sucks, he thought.   
Kobra moved over to where Poison was sitting and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hey, relax. Just treat the guy with respect and don't push him for info that he doesn't wanna give. You know he always ends up sucking up to you, he's your best friend after all."  
Poison smiled sadly. "He really doesn't know what to do without me, huh?"   
"Yeah," Kobra agreed. "He's kind of a mess."  
"Aren't we all though?"   
"Pffft, definitely." Kobra smiled. When he smiled, his cheeks lifted up and for a moment he looked like a child again. God, I would die for him, Poison thought.  
Kobra raised an eyebrow. "Why are you looking at me like that, you fucking goof?"   
Poison prodded at his brother's cheeks. "You're like a baby."  
"Shut the fuck up, no I'm not."  
Poison gasped dramatically, taken aback. "Such vile language is not permitted in this household! Don't make me put you in time-out, Kobe!"  
"Eeeeuuugh, stopppp! You're being sappy," Kobra whined.   
"Say that you looove me," Poison taunted. "Say that you wuv your big brother."  
"I love you, Pois."  
"No, you have to say it with the lisp."   
Kobra groaned. “You’re so weird.”  
“I second that!” Jetstar called.  
Poison looked up. “Oh, Jet, you’re done too?”  
“Yeah, I am. That was pointless,” Jet stated plainly.   
“Oh, Jet, forgive me for actually looking out for you and the others,” Poison mused sarcastically.   
Jet sat down next to the other two killjoys. “How would anyone have been able to put a tracker on us anyway?”  
Poison shrugged. “The same way they put a tracker on that kid we met, most likely.”  
Jet was more than sick of Pois’s bullshit. “..Poison.”   
“Yeah?”  
“The kid we met- and he has a name- was six weeks out of the city. They probably started tracking him because he was suspected of creativity. We’re safe. I promise.”  
“Okay,” Party Poison replied. The word was empty. It didn’t mean shit. Jet knew that.   
“Hey, are you listening? Do you understand? Nobody’s out to get you. We’re okay.”   
“Yep.”   
Poison wasn’t even listening anymore. He was too frustrated, and too concentrated on not showing it. Jet leaned over to Kobra.   
“Is your brother okay?” He murmured.  
“He’s got a lot on his mind,” Kobra answered plainly. “Ghoul will be able to talk some sense into him.”   
“Where is Ghoul, anyway?”  
“Washing his clothes,” Poison answered, without moving his gaze and barely moving his lips. “He has a new tattoo.”  
Poison had totally zoned out by now. This happened every once in a while- more often to Ghoul than to him- but between the heat and how tired Poison already was, it was time for him to go. Jet and Kobra had noticed this by now.   
“You wanna go to bed, Pois?” Jet asked, slightly concerned.  
“Mm, I wanna wait for Ghoul to come back,” Poison mumbled.   
“Ghoul probably won’t be back for a while, dude. You should really go get some rest.”   
“Mmmngh. Don’t wanna.”   
“Now who’s the baby?” Kobra said under his breath.   
“Okay, you’re going to bed now,” Jet announced.   
“I’m gonna stay here.” Poison shook his head.  
Jet crossed his arms. “Mmmno you’re not. You’re going to your room.”   
Poison shook his head faster and crossed his arms as well. “No.”   
“Yes.”  
“No!" Poison whined. "I wanna wait for Ghoullllll!”  
“Quit being a big baby, Poison, I don’t wanna have to carry you to your room,” Jet griped.   
“Oh my god. Do it. I wanna see if you can still pick him up,” Kobra encouraged.   
Jet sighed. “Fiiine. I’m doing it.”   
"Wait-" Before Poison could argue, he was up in the air. “Hey, put me down!”  
“I’ll put you down in your bedroom. You’re taking a nap. You can talk to Ghoul when he gets back.”   
“Fine,” Poison begrudgingly agreed, not because he’d ever willingly let Jet win one of their quarrels, but because he was too tired to continue.   
Jet carried Poison to his room and placed him in his bed.   
"Goodnight, you fucking pisschild."  
That was the last thing Poison heard before going out cold. He couldn't even figure out who had said it. It wasn't even dark out yet once the door was closed and the shades were drawn Poison couldn't keep his eyes open. Slumped over in a position that looked uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to mind.  
***  
When Poison dreamed, usually it was one of two things, nonsense or terrors.   
This one didn't particularly seem like either of those.   
An empty desert. Empty in the middle of the day? Seemed unlikely. Maybe it's a maple plaza? Those are always empty. Why can't I move..?  
Party Poison couldn't feel a corporeal form surrounding him. He figured it was safe to assume that he was just part of the environment now.   
This is kind of rad.   
Well, it was. Then it wasn't, because Poison got bored. Jeez, not being alive is dull as SHIT!  
Before Poison could think another word, sand kicked up next to him- or what was supposedly him.   
Hey, what the-   
Soccer cleats. Those are Ghoul's cleats, Poison recalled. Ghoul hadn't played soccer a day in his life, it was just his preferred choice of footwear, for whatever reason. What's he doing?  
As fast as Ghoul had arrived, he was gone. Though he still couldn't see him, Poison could hear the bottoms of his shoes beating at the sand. He was running.   
Something came into view. A white slip, fluttering through the air like a dove. An envelope. Poison assumed it came from Ghoul's hand. Poison wanted to catch it, but he had no hands to reach out with.   
***  
When Party Poison came to, it was nighttime. What time he wasn't sure- time was a construct anyway. It was late.   
Poison normally would've tried to go back to sleep, but tonight was not a *normal* night on any scale. He had just woken from a vague dream that he only remembered bits and pieces of, but he knew Ghoul had been in it. And he missed him. He had missed him before he had slept and he missed him again now.   
Where is he, anyway? Normally Poison would be able to hear him breathe in the room next to him since the walls were thin, especially this late at night when no other sound could be heard, but Poison wasn't hearing anything.  
As soon as Poison got out of bed to look for him, his body grew cold. Tugging on his jacket, he crept out of his bedroom, careful not to make a sound in a motel where the slightest slip could cause a massive creak.  
"Ghoul?" He breathed. No response. Ugh.  
Poison supposed that he was off doing something somewhere. "I don't know about you, but I need a smoke," he whispered to no one.   
That ended up resulting in him out on the porch, holding a cigarette between his two fingers. Usually the sound of the buzzing cicadas would have lulled him to sleep, but Poison was more awake than ever now. He exhaled, letting the grey smoke escape his lips in a puff.   
"..Pois?"  
Poison's head jerked up. Ghoul's face was staring back, from the motel rooftop. The hell?   
"It's 4 A.M., what are you doing awake?"  
"Having a smoke," Poison answered. "Though I might ask the same for you, Ghoul. Seems a bit hypocritical of you to question my intentions."  
"I am also doing that," Ghoul replied. "Just on a higher level."  
"Wow, you're literally higher than me," Poison said, and laughed, though it wasn't that funny. "And you're taller than me for once in your life."   
Ghoul snorted. "Get up here, asshole." He gestured up.  
"Might need to help me out, there, bud. I can't exactly scale walls with my rodent claws."  
"Well I can," Ghoul bragged. "And I will lend my power to you for only a moment."  
"Wait, what? You can do that?"  
"Yep. It's this magic thing I like to call a stepladder. By the door, P."  
"Oh." Poison turned his head. Sure enough, there was a rusty metal stepladder next to the motel door. He picked it up, heaving. Fuck, this is heavy. With it in his hands, just above the ground, Poison stumbled to the end of the porch. He pushed the legs of the stepladder into the dirt to make sure it didn't wobble, and slowly, step by step, climbed up the rails.   
"..I still can't reach." By the time he was at the top, he was still a ways away from being able to easily heave his body onto the rooftop. It wasn't a very tall stepladder.  
"Oh, shoot. I could've sworn it was taller than that," Ghoul remarked. "Here, just.. grab my hand and I'll try to pull you up. You won't fall and die, probably."   
Poison was less concerned about the risk of falling off and more concerned about the rapidly approaching opportunity of touching Ghoul's hand. Oh gooood, this is so fucking cliche. It was quite the lucky strike that it was pitch black out, excluding the dim orange light of two lit cigarettes, because Poison was definitely blushing, he could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.   
"Okay," Poison agreed. Don't do anything stupid.   
Ghoul's hand reached out. "Grab on," he directed.   
Don't do anything stupid.  
"Right," Poison replied, reaching out as well.   
Don't. Fuck. This. Up.  
Ghoul's fist closed around Poison's hand.   
"Aagh!"   
Ghoul's sharp fingernails stung as they lightly dug into Poison's bare palm. Poison stumbled, recoiling from the pain, and when his reflexes kicked in, it caused the ladder below him to topple to the sandy ground, blowing up dust on impact.   
Poison was hanging from the rooftop, the only thing keeping him from falling being Ghoul's grip, which of course still stung.   
"SHIT!" Ghoul yelled into the night. He lurched forward, and if he hadn't supported himself with his other hand, they both could have fallen off.   
"Shhh!" Poison hissed. "You'll wake up Jet and Kobe!"  
"Uhh, yeah, that's kind of the least of my worries right now!"   
Poison felt Ghoul's grasp falter. His eyes widened, and a sharp gasp escaped his lips.   
"Shit shit shit," Ghoul exclaimed. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck."  
"What are you waiting for??" Poison spat. "Pull me up!"   
"I'm trying!" Ghoul had both hands on Poison's arm now, one on his lower wrist and the other's fingers still tightly intertwined with Poison's. It would've been an intimate moment if Poison wasn't in danger of falling and breaking a million bones. "Alright, put your feet on the side."  
Poison swung his legs up and pressed the soles of his feet against the motel wall. Immediately, he felt safer.   
"I'm gonna pull you up on three, okay?"   
Poison nodded.   
"Alright! 3…"  
Poison's mind was a blur with thoughts. None of them were helpful or relevant. Ghoul's grip was tightening, and the adrenaline pumping through his veins was starting to mess with his head.   
Ghoul's hands are really sweaty. Why doesn't he ever cut his nails?  
"2…"  
If he hadn't caught me, I might be dead now. Or at least seriously hurt. I hope Ghoul doesn't hate me for leaving. God, I really hope he doesn't hate me.  
"1…"  
Oh god, Fun Ghoul is going to pull me up. He's actually going to save me, isn't he? That's what he's going to do.. oh god, look at him. He cares so much, the little bastard… oh lord, look at his stupid face…   
“PULL!”   
Ghoul pulled. It worked, to an extent. Poison was now halfway onto the roof, his upper body lying on the edge of the roof, his legs still dangling off the edge. Poison’s hands were the only things keeping him from slipping off again. Ghoul was holding them tight.  
“Um…”  
Without saying anything, Poison pulled on Ghoul’s arms and eventually heaved his legs onto the roof, one by one. He grabbed his bearings, stood up, and brushed the dust off his jacket.   
Poison sighed. “Thanks,” he breathed through the cigarette in his mouth.  
“You’re welcome,” Ghoul said.   
Aw geez, this got awkward.  
Poison tried to articulate any of the thoughts he had swirling in his head.   
“You really should cut your fingernails, y’know. That really hurt.” Party Poison rubbed his wrist. It hadn’t bled, but the skin was definitely torn.   
“I would, but then I wouldn’t be able to climb walls,” Ghoul reasoned. “Or pierce my enemies with my bare hands.”   
“Wow, that was….” Poison searched for the right words. “Stressful.”  
“Yeah, are you okay?”  
“Yeah, I’m alright, just… a little spooked,” Poison admitted. “And cold.”  
"You wanna sit down?" Ghoul advised.   
"I mean, I was gonna do that anyway, but.. yeah." Poison sat down, taking another drag from his cigarette and blowing out the smoke, aiming away from Ghoul's face. "What have you been doing up here?"   
"Just a bunch of weed," Ghoul replied. "From the mystery bag. Thought I'd use it up since I know you don't like it much."   
"Oh, that's a weed cigarette. I was gonna ask if I could have a puff but I'll pass then," Poison muttered.   
Ghoul nodded, taking another puff of his cigarette. "Why don't you like weed again?"  
"I guess it's probably because my brain is kind of wired backwards and I never thought that would help," Poison answered honestly. "But like, it's cool. Y'all can enjoy whatever you want, honestly."   
"When you were presumed dead, I joked to Kobe that if we found your body we would cremate you and smoke your ashes," Ghoul explained. "Kobe told me it wasn't funny. It wasn't."   
"That's the kind of joke you make when you're super wasted. Were you super wasted?"  
Ghoul paused. "...Yeah."  
Poison didn't respond immediately. His head had fallen into the clouds for a moment. The two of them were just sitting there, smoking on the roof. There was nothing to worry about.   
"I'm still cold," Poison complained. "I'm a chilly bitch."   
"I can tell," Ghoul replied. "You wanna go back inside?"  
"Um, no!" Poison exclaimed. "I didn't drag ass all the way up here and almost die in the process just to go back inside right after. Besides.." Poison pushed back his hair. "I... don't think I'm gonna get back to sleep tonight."  
"I haven't slept yet," Ghoul replied.   
"What?? Dude, we have to get up in a few hours! You're really not gonna sleep at all?"  
"I don't think I even need sleep anymore," Ghoul replied, shrugging. "I'm just so much of a mess at this point that my energy is at a high like, all of the time."  
"Dude, everyone needs sleep. You should seriously get some sleep."   
"I'd rather stay up to be honest. I'm already wired anyway," Ghoul replied. "If you want me to sleep then you're kinda outta luck."   
"I.. guess that's a fine excuse.." Poison begrudgingly agreed. "But sleep tomorrow night. One of these days you're gonna fucking die."  
"Fine, I guess now that I know you're okay then it'll be easier to sleep than it has been lately."   
Poison looked up. The stars looked back.   
Ghoul took the cigarette out of his mouth to speak. "So what do we plan on doing?"   
"I dunno. I guess just talking," Poison supposed. "Smoking cigs and having a chat."   
The moon wasn't quite full that night, it was somewhat of a thumbnail shape, but it was close enough. Ghoul looked pretty in the moonlight, which wasn't a word Poison usually used to describe anyone, let alone guys. Oh god, I'm so lucky that it's dark out.   
"We've got a few hours to kill before the sun comes up," Ghoul said.   
"If Jet wakes up and sees that we're not in bed, he's gonna flip," Poison commented.  
"Then let him," Ghoul replied. "He's not the one who almost broke all his bones trying to get his ass up here. He wouldn't want to get down either."   
"I'm gonna have to get down eventually, Ghoulie," Poison reasoned, slowly peeking his head over the edge.   
"Hey!"   
Poison felt Ghoul's hand on his shoulder.   
"Don't bother looking down. We're not going that way."   
Poison grinned like a dumbass. "How come you always know what to say?"  
"I don't know anymore," Ghoul answered honestly. He sighed. "What do you wanna do? Wanna play a game or something?"   
“Well-” Ghoul’s sentence got cut off, and he exhaled sharply. He pursed his lip all pouty-like, which he tended to do when he was thinking. It was adorable. “I don't really think we gotta do anything in particular, do we? What I wanna do, dude, is- I kinda just wanna lie here and smoke my shit and look at the stars and wonder about aliens and shit.  
Poison took this into account. “Is that something you have to do on your own, like, should I leave?”  
“No, no!” Ghoul, who had been lying down ever since Poison had prompted him with the FMK, sat up abruptly. “You can stay if you want to, I’m just gonna kind of do my own thing.”   
“Do you really want me to stay though?” Poison queried. Although Ghoul’s words felt like truth, Poison could never be sure.   
“Of course!” Ghoul assured. “Why would I ever want you to not be here?”  
“It’s just that you kinda implied that-”  
“Pffffft!” Ghoul snorted. “You don’t have to overanalyze every word I say, dork. This may come as a surprise but not everyone is out to get you 100% of the time.”   
“But-”  
“Shut up,” Ghoul insisted. “You’re okay. What reason would I ever have to be fake with you?”  
Poison was listening so intently to Ghoul’s voice that it was only after he stopped talking that he noticed that Ghoul’s hand had been placed gently on his cheek.  
Um…  
Ghoul tended to do things with his hands- make weird gestures and whatnot, he tended to talk with his hands. He normally wasn’t very intimate, however, so this came as kind of a surprise. Ghoul’s hand left his cheek before he could even process it. Neither of them said anything.   
Ghoul sized Poison up, noticing for the first time that he was covered head-to-toe in goosebumps. "You're trembling. You alright?"  
"Yeah, just.. Ugh, I sound like a broken record, but again, I'm just really cold."   
“You want another cigarette or something?”  
“I’ve got my own.”  
“No, I insist. Besides, those were supposed to stay in the car. You didn’t plan on smoking that out the window of the motel, did you?”  
“Mm... maybe.”   
Ghoul visibly shuddered. "You're going to burn something down someday."   
"At least if I committed arson then there would be warmth in this frozen land."  
Ghoul chuckled, handing his friend a *normal* cigarette. "I'd lend you my jacket, but.. you're kind of already wearing one."  
"Yeah," Pois agreed, lighting Ghoul's cigarette. "Plus your ''""jacket""" is a vest, which is useless, Ghoul, because I'll be all toasty on my torso while my arms are freezing off. This jacket sucks too, for the record. Good for keeping out the heat, not so good at keeping it in."  
"If you're so cold, then c'mere," Ghoul invited. "Together we are warm."  
"Pff." Poison smiled. "You serious?"  
"Yeah, why not?"   
Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.   
"I just.. you've never really been one to-"   
"Y'know, you talk an awful lot."  
Poison considered saying something, but realized that would be proving Ghoul's point. He made a small noise in protest, but no words came out.   
"C'mere, Pois."  
Poison nodded, still refusing to say anything. Ghoul couldn't win an argument, that was illegal. He got on his knees and scooted over to Ghoul, who welcomed him with open arms. Once Pois got close enough, his arms closed around him.  
He was warm- way warmer than Poison was expecting, considering how cold he was in comparison. Though not exactly prompted, Poison buried his chin in the valley between Ghoul's left shoulder and the side of his neck, his arms wrapped tightly around his upper arms. God, he was warm.   
Poison felt safe, there in Ghoul's arms, under the soft, uncaring atmosphere, the cannabis haze filling his lungs. Poison didn't care much, it wasn't like it was doing any harm.  
"Pfff, you getting comfy over there, you dork?"   
But Poison wasn't listening too intently. He was too focused on being very, very, very comfortable.   
"Alright, well if you're comfy like that, I'm gonna lie down now if you don't mind."  
Poison nodded, his cheeks rubbing against the top of Ghoul's neck. Ghoul lowered down until the small of his back was down on the floor of the roof. His spine went limp, and he totally relaxed. Poison was still clung to him.  
"You make a very comfortable pillow," Poison breathed against Ghoul's neck. It was true.   
"Thank you, I think," Ghoul replied.   
Poison didn't speak for a while. He just kept taking slow breaths, still wrapped around his friend.   
"You dozing off, bub?"  
Poison shook his head. "No."   
"Heh, you sure?"  
Poison lifted his head for a second. His hair was already ruffled up, and admittedly, he did look sleepy. "Ok, I'm a little tired. But if I fall asleep, wake me up, okay? I wanna stay awake with you."  
"Don't worry, I won't." Ghoul winked.   
"Alright.." Poison's voice trailed off, and his head slowly lowered back down into Ghoul's arms. He must've been actually sleepy, because he was out in seconds. Too tired to think, to process, to even dream. Poison fell into a deep sleep, undisturbed, until the sun peeked over the desert horizon.  
Ghoul didn't wake him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so heres chapter 7 i really didnt feel like posting today because it's the ten year anniversary of the split and i feel like moping around all day bc i miss Ryan Ross but since it's Saturday heres the chapter anyway


	8. The Caskettes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fab 4 pay Poison and Kobra's family a visit.  
> Poison gets some more advice.

The morning sun shone on Poison's skin. When he blinked his eyes open, he was still on the rooftop where he had fallen asleep not short of two hours ago. He was curled up with Ghoul, who was still fast asleep, breathing softly.   
Heh. Don't need sleep, huh? Sure.   
Both their bodies were washed in the orange light as the sun crept over the desert sky. Poison sat up. He wasn’t about to wake up Ghoul- he would never. But usually he didn’t get up this early, so he figured he might as well make the most of it.   
The air was brisk- still had the chill that the desert tended to have at night, but warm enough that Poison could finally take off his jacket comfortably. Usually he didn’t sleep in his jacket, so he was almost surprised he had been able to fall asleep up there at all.   
Quiet as a mouse, Poison lifted himself up and crept back over to the edge of the roof and let his legs dangle off. The view was truly beautiful. Winter sunsets in the desert tended to be.   
You can’t get anything like that in the city, Poison thought. And it was true.   
Poison tore his eyes away from the golden hues of the sunrise to check on Ghoul. After Poison moved away from him, he had to adapt, so he had subconsciously moved into the fetal position.   
Poison traces the holes in his domino mask, looking at the sunrise, admiring from afar. Then back to Ghoul.   
His eyes fluttered open. The two killjoys locked eyes for a moment.   
"What are you looking at, pissbaby?"  
"You fell asleep," Poison noted.  
"Yeah, and what about it?" Ghoul mumbled sleepily. "We all sleep."  
"Apparently not you. You said you were wired and weren't gonna sleep."   
"Yeah, well, you were very comfy," Ghoul admitted. He yawned wide, showing his pointy teeth and a flash of his split tongue. "It was only like two hours anyway. I still don't need sleep."  
"You look really tired, dude."   
"Well, you look like a cherry tomato, Poison."   
"I do not!"  
"And I'm not tired!" Ghoul spat. "So stop accusing me- holy SHIT look at that sunrise."   
Ghoul pointed to the orange sky, having gotten distracted. The sun had gotten bigger in the sky since Poison had last taken a glance.   
"Yeah, I saw. I was checking it out before you woke up."   
Ghoul nodded to himself, doing the ok hand. "That's a high quality sunrise. Pretty top notch."  
Poison popped his lips. "Not too shabby for a flaming ball of radiation."   
The sun was almost entirely over the horizon now, brightening up the sky and the sand. It also meant that Dr. Death Defying's morning transmission was coming in soon. All around the desert, the sun started waking up other 'joys.   
"Jet and Kobra will be awake pretty soon."  
Poison nodded. "We should figure out a way to get down."  
"You knocked down the stepladder, so.. good luck." Ghoul crossed his arms, smirking, the stitches on his cheek lifting up.   
"Don't you come up here often?"   
"I did a lot during the first week you were gone," Ghoul replied. "Kinda got out of the habit though. Usually I just jump down, but something tells me you don't want me to do that."  
"Yeah, I really don't," Poison agreed. "Maybe if I…"  
Poison carefully lowered his lower body off the side, all his weight focused on his hands to keep him from slipping, and tried to latch onto the side of the wall with the bottom of his feet.   
It didn't work.  
"Shit," Poison exclaimed. "Guess we're stuck up here forever."  
"Again, jumping down is always an option," Ghoul suggested.  
Poison frowned. "I, personally, would like to keep my legs unbroken."  
"Pfft, who needs legs." Ghoul joked.   
"Whatever. Jet'll wake up soon and after he's done freaking out he can get the stepladder and we can get down."  
"Maybe Kobe'll wake up first and we can get down without Jet freaking out."  
"Unlikely. Jet usually wakes up first."   
"Well, not today. Today that title goes to us." Ghoul laughed.   
"Indeed."  
The two were silent for a bit. The sky was slowly turning from a deep orange to the normal midday blue.  
"So what do you think we're gonna do today?"   
"Mm." Poison thought for a second. "I don't know if we really have anything in particular that we gotta do. Probably hit up the diner and hang out with the other dudes."  
"Sounds like a plan to me, I've honestly been needing a day where we just don't have to do anything." Ghoul sighed, relieved.  
Suddenly, Ghoul perked up. Poison followed his gaze, pointed down. Ghoul rushed to the side, where Poison was already sitting, and the red-headed killjoy's ears detected a faint yelling. It got louder quickly.   
The killjoy that ran out of the motel was none other than Jet. He was the source of the yelling.   
"What are you two DOING!"  
It was Jet, because of course it was.  
"Heyyy, Jet!" Poison called back, a twinge of nervousness in his voice.   
"How long have you been up there??"  
"Uhhh…" Ghoul looked at his wrist to check a watch that wasn't there. "Since like, four?"  
"Why were you two up at 4 AM???"  
"Hmm." Poison tried to recall. "Couldn't sleep."   
Jet took a long sigh. Seemed like he was attempting to keep his cool. "Okay. Let me go get Kobe, and we will get this sorted out."   
Jet disappeared back into the diner. Poison and Ghoul exchanged a knowing glance.   
"We're in deep shit," Poison said, then started giggling.  
"Yeah, oh my god." Ghoul started laughing too.   
"I don't think I've seen him blow up this big since I tried to paint my entire body green."  
"To be fair, that was really stupid."  
"What are you talking about? You helped me do that."  
"Yeah. Because it was really fucking funny. And stupid." Ghoul covered his mouth to keep from laughing even harder.   
Faint footsteps could be heard on the porch. Here comes Jet.  
Ghoul and Poison muted their laughter and poked their heads over the edge. There was the still-frantic Jet Star, and the sleepy-looking Kobra Kid.  
"He woke me up," Kobra muttered, pointed to Jet.  
"It's for a good reason though," Jet reasoned.  
"Not really."  
"What's up, boys?" Ghoul asked rhetorically.   
Poison turned to his friend. This was the easiest joke he would ever make. "...Us, Ghoul. We are up."  
Kobra covered his mouth with both hands to hide the fact that he was laughing. Jet shot him a glance.   
"Well, Pois is right," Jet replied. "You two are 'up' and I would like an explanation!"  
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Ghoul replied. "Well, it still is a good idea."  
Poison nodded.  
Jet frowned. "...You guys can't get down, can you?"  
"Nope!" Poison confirmed. "Please help."  
"There's a ladder over there, could you prop it up?" Ghoul requested.  
"Fine," Jet begrudgingly agreed. “Kobe, could you help me out?"   
"Sure thing," Kobra agreed. The two killjoys on ground level got to the ladder and heaved the metal ladder into the air. The two shuffled until the ladder was propped up against the wall.   
"Thanks, dudes!" Ghoul exclaimed.  
Kobra nodded, showing Ghoul and Poison a thumbs-up.  
"Yeah, whatever," Jet replied.   
"Anyways, good morning!" Poison greeted cheerily.   
"Morning, guys." Jet smiled warmly, like the ray of fucking sunshine he was- though he still seemed a bit irritated.   
"Poison was saying that we were gonna head to the diner after the transmission," Ghoul said. "You guys up for that?"  
"Sure!" Jet replied.  
Kobra shrugged. "Well, when have I ever passed up an opportunity to hang out at the diner?"   
"Alright, well, the sun's all the way up now, so the transmission should be coming up pretty soon. Start getting ready to blast, 'joys." Poison smiled.  
"Can do, Mr. Leader Man." Kobra saluted sarcastically.  
***  
Poison was in the middle of popping into his American Idiot shirt and a pair of fresh jeans when the daily transmission cut in.   
"Rise and shine, tumbleweeds…"  
Dr. Death's voice filled the zones and the ears of killjoys everywhere.   
"This is Dr. Death Defying, tuning in live to the quintet of zones we call our homes- and whatever zone 6 is supposed to be. Here.. is the traffic report."  
While Dr. Death went on about a clap that happened in zone 2 between two drunk idiots, Poison finished pulling on his jeans and popped a piece of mint gum he found in his jeans into his mouth. It tasted old, but, what did that mean to a killjoy?  
"There's the radio- that's our cue to blast, sandsuckers. Hop in the trans am. I wanna get there before Pony drinks all the soda."  
"Aye aye," Ghoul replied.   
"Hold on, I'm getting my bag," Kobra called from his room.  
"Take your time, Kobe," Jet replied. "The transmission isn't even over yet, we've got time."  
"What Jet said but also hurry up because I'm thirsty," Poison muttered.   
"I'll be waiting in the trans am whenever you guys wanna hit the 'pave," Ghoul announced.   
"I'm coming with," Poison replied.  
"What, why?"  
"Because you're gonna try to sit in the driver's seat."  
Ghoul grew a pouty lip. "Fine."  
The bottoms of Poison's boots clicked against the asphalt as he followed his shorter friend to the trans am. With a beep, the car unlocked, and Ghoul flipped his body into the shotgun seat. Party Poison followed, pulled open the driver-side door and slid in.   
"Jet seems to have totally calmed down," Ghoul mumbled, tapping the dashboard.   
"Yeah, he gets like that, doesn't he?" Poison grinned.  
"Maybe we should stop purposefully doing things to provoke him."  
"Hmmm…" Party Poison considered this. "Nah."  
"Yeah, nah. It's too fun."  
The sound of the creaking motel door and footsteps behind them told Poison that Kobra and Jet were on their way to join them in the car.   
"You boys ready to blast?" Poison called.   
"Yeah," Jet calmly replied.   
"Mmhm!" Kobra exclaimed.   
Poison grinned. "Let's rock."   
And rock they did. Party Poison revved the engine, Fun Ghoul turned up the music real loud. The blaring music followed the car as it screeched down the getaway mile, while Poison sang offkey and Ghoul screamed along. The drive to the diner wasn't very long, but the fab four always made the most of any opportunity to sing and/or scream.   
Soon a dot appeared on the horizon. That dot soon grew into the diner, with the missing letters and the run-down Dead Pegasus gas station outside. The tires screeched as Poison lifted his boot from the brake, and before you could say maple plaza three times fast, the fab 4 had arrived at their destination.  
"Backstreet's back alright!" Poison announced.   
"OHHHHHH, THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN!" The familiar voice of Show Pony echoed through the diner, muffled faintly through their motorcycle helmet.   
"We are indeed, Pony. We are indeed." Poison waved to Show Pony and started leaning against one of the diner's painted walls.  
"You're in luck, Posie- we restocked on the good shit while you were gone."  
Behind their mask, Poison's eyes lit up. "Gimme gimme gimme!"  
"Don't drink it all," Pony warned. "Or we're not getting it again."  
"Yeah yeah," Poison muttered. Show Pony tossed him a can. It clicked in Poison's hand, and he began guzzling it.  
"Eugh," Kobra said under his breath.   
The kitchen door swung open, and Cherri Cola walked in. His eyes shot up. "Oh good, you're here."  
"Nice to see you too, Cherri." Poison smirked.   
"No, really. I've got something for you. Hold on, I'll be right back."  
As Cherri disappeared back into the kitchen for a minute, Poison couldn't keep still. Tuning out the generic chatter between the other killjoys, he didn't have anything in particular on his mind, just didn't particularly feel like dealing with the world right now. His nails tapped the diner counter pointlessly.   
The door pushed open, and an empty tin can of power pup hit him smack in the head.   
"Ow! The fuck-"  
"There's a message in there," Cherri remarked. "It got dropped it on the roof at like 1AM. Your name is written on it, so it's safe to assume someone sent it for you."  
Party Poison opened the can that had clocked him in the head and, sure enough, there was a wrinkled piece of lined notebook paper rolled up inside. "Alright, I'm a little rusty on my reading skills, but let's see if I can make this out."  
Kobra snickered. "He doesn't know how to fucking read," he muttered to Ghoul. Ghoul giggled.   
"Oh shut the fuck up, yeah I can," Poison spat. He placed the paper on the diner counter and smoothed it out with his other hand. The writing was in thick black ink.

Dear Party Piss,  
Hey Pois, you roadkill-eating dunderpiss, it's me, your cousin.   
When were you going to tell me you were alive? We had to learn it secondhand from a merchant who wandered into the wrong part of zone four. (Didn't even have to threaten him to get the info, smh). We thought you fucking died so uh, yeah how did that happen. Give us the deets, P.  
Anyways, come visit us sometime. Me and the girls miss you.   
-Rev.

"Aaugh, shit," Poison muttered.   
"What's it say?" Ghoul ran over to the counter and craned his neck over to look at the paper.  
"Rev wants us to visit her," Poison replied. "Ugh, she's gonna be so mad at me.."  
"Who's Rev again?" Jet asked.   
"Sweet Revenge, our cousin." Kobra snatched the paper from Poison's hands. "Frontman of the Caskettes? That gang of goth girls in zone 5? Yeah them."  
"Ahhh, right, her," Jet recalled. "We haven't talked to her in a while."   
"Yeah, but I dunno if we really have a choice at this point." Poison frowned.  
Kobra nodded. "Yeah, if we don't go see her then she'll come here, and there's a non-zero chance that she'll fucking kill someone. So it's probably best if we go with the first option."   
"Your cousin is terrifying," Ghoul remarked.   
"Yeah, most of the goths in the zones are."   
"Well, I guess we're doing this today," Ghoul supposed.   
"Yep," Poison replied in between sips of his soda. "This is very good, Pony, thank you."  
"No problem, boblem." Show Pony, who was sitting up on the counter in a promiscuous position, gave Poison a thumbs up. "Good luck with your goth girl problem. Try not to die."   
"We will try our damned hardest," Poison assured. "Thanks for the encouragement."   
"Ughhh, I just wanted to hang out and do nothing today," Kobra complained.  
"Well, maybe if we make this quick, we'll still be able to do that before the sun goes down," Poison replied. "Let's just get going."   
"But you guys just got here!" Cherri groaned.  
"No time to waste, Cherri-Cakes, we've got some goth gfs to deal with."  
***  
The desert flew by after the fab 4 loaded back into the car just as quick as they had gotten out. Past the bifrost the trans am sped along, and they ventured deeper into the rim of zone 5, where the old poison bombs stained the sand black and stray cats moved in the shadows.  
"God, of course they live here of all places," Ghoul groaned. "I feel like we're gonna get attacked by like, actual vampires."  
"We deal with draculoids all the time, how different can they be from real vamps?" Jet asked.  
"Dracs don't use their teeth," Ghoul replied.   
"What Ghoul said, also vampires aren't real." Poison smirked. "I should know because if they were real, I'd be dating one by now."  
"..You are so weird." Ghoul squinted.   
"Mmhm." Party Poison ran his tongue along his rows of teeth, as if to check if they had grown into fangs yet.   
The quiet hum of the engine seemed louder as the four went silent, busy taking in their surroundings. The sun was still out, there were still no clouds in the sky, but somehow the desert seemed.. darker. A lot darker.  
The deeper they got into this darker area, the more they started to see small campsites scattered across the black sand. Black and red tents, caution tape, anarchy stickers. There probably wasn't another place with this much concentrated edginess in the entire state of California.   
Poison stopped the car. On the side of the straight road there was pitch-black tent with a trail of dead roses leading to the entrance. On the side there were several painted-on killjoy symbols. One of them was a black rose, with a red 'R' painted on in a typewriter-style font.   
"That, right there. That's the one." Poison pointed to the black tent.  
"How can you tell?" Jet asked.   
"Because it's the edgiest one. And one of the symbols painted on the side is Rev's."  
"Ah, alright."  
The killjoys stepped out. With their colorful ensemble, they looked like dart frogs on a black backdrop. There was quiet, muffled chatter that could be heard from inside, so Pois knew they were inside.   
Party Poison tried to knock on the tent flap, but since it was made of fabric, it didn't make a very noticeable sound. It seemed like the Caskettes noticed anyway.  
"Come in!" one of them called.   
"Okay!" Poison replied. He took the zipper between two fingers and pulled it open.   
All eyes were on the killjoys. Seven girls. Seven! And all of them were looking at the killjoys like they had two heads.   
"Who the fuck are you?" One said, breaking the silence.  
An eighth girl with black hair (Just like the other seven) and a red streak popped her head up from behind the others. "Girls, this is Party Poison and his friends, remember? He's my cousin."   
"Hello, Sweet Revenge!!" Poison exclaimed, his voice a bit shaky. "You have gotten a lot more recruits since we last talked, huh!"  
"Yep." Sweet Revenge stood up. She was wearing a black corset under a crop leather jacket covered in pins and patches, a black leather miniskirt, a pair of black knee-high fishnet tights, and black combat boots. Her face was covered in makeup (how she could afford it Poison had no idea)- white foundation, black winged eyeliner and red eyeshadow. Her lips were red, and Poison genuinely couldn't tell if it was lipstick or just her natural lip color.   
She looked like a walking Hot Topic.  
Sweet Revenge walked through the congregation of Lesser Goths, and they parted like waves. The goth killjoy stood eye-to-eye with Poison, and he noticed for the first time that they were the same height. Revenge glared at him. She raised her hand.  
Smack!  
"......OW!!"  
Several of the girls on the floor burst into laughter. Behind him, Kobra choked on a laugh.   
Poison turned around. "What are you snickering about, asshole?"   
Kobra covered his mouth to hide the fact that he was laughing. "Nothing."  
"Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark, Pois." Jet pointed out.  
"Yeah, no shit sherlock!" Poison exclaimed. He turned back around to face his cousin. "What the hell was that for??!"  
Revenge had a smirk on her face, her green eyes flashing. "That's what you get for faking your death, dumbass."  
"I wanna slap him too, Rev!" One of the other goth girls chimed cheerily.  
"Me too!"  
"Me three!"  
Party Poison was in shock. "What the fuck??"   
"Calm down, girls. He's had enough of a punishment."   
The other girls settled down.  
Poison groaned. "Alright, is that all you wanted to do? Can we go now?"   
"Nah." Rev's lips moved into a sly grin (Poison decided that she couldn't not be wearing lipstick, not with the full face of makeup she had on anyway). "Just wanted y'all to come over so I can hang out with my favorite little cousin."   
"Aren't I older than you?"   
Rev shrugged. "Shit if I know. Time is a construct."  
Poison turned around. The other killjoys had already been absorbed into the environment. Jet was examining the tent fabric.   
"Doesn't black fabric absorb the warmth? Isn't it hot in here all the time?"  
"Whatever, it looks cool," a goth responded.   
In another corner, it looked like Kobra was awkwardly getting flirted with. In yet another, Ghoul's hair was getting complimented by another two.   
"Girls, be respectful. These are our guests! Treat them as such," Rev mused.  
"Damn right you should be respecting me," Poison muttered.  
"Yeah, that rule goes for everyone except you," Rev explained. "So watch yourself."  
"...Will do."  
The other girls all nodded and moved back into their places.   
"So," Rev began, getting down on her knees. "How've you guys been? Go to any good parties lately? How are the kids?"  
"Well, we don't have those," Jet answered. "Kids, I mean. Obviously we go to parties."  
"We haven't been to any parties for a while," Kobra added. "Pois only just got back from the whole faked death thing, and before that we were focused on, y'know- looking for him. Plus the power in the nest is turned off still. And it's been that way since Pois left."   
"Hmm. Wow." Rev turned her head to Poison. "I'd slap you again for that, but now your bruise is turning a reeeeaaaal deep purple and I kinda feel bad, so I guess pretend I slapped you again."  
"Okay. Ow," Poison replied monotonically.   
"That's the spirit."  
Kobra pushed one of the goth girls, who had already started flirting with him again, away. "Eh, it's alright. We're all just glad to have him back."  
"Yeah, I was getting tired of hearing all the conspiracies and shit. I'm glad it's over," Ghoul commented.   
Poison glared at him. Jet glared at him. Kobra pushed yet another goth off, then glared at him.   
"I'm joking," Ghoul assured.   
"Yeah, ok," Poison replied.   
Rev raised her eyebrows and made direct eye contact with Pois. He didn't get the message she was trying to send, so he ignored her.  
"Well," Rev said, "While you guys are here, why don't we show you around the place?"  
Jet smirked. "What, you mean around the tent?"  
Rev rolled her eyes. "No, around the surrounding static, dumbass. These two will show you around." The black-haired girl gestured to two shorter goth killjoys. "They were raised here, y'know."  
Jet nodded. "Oh, fantastic. And what might your names be?"  
The shorter girls didn't seem to be listening. "We can't wait to show you our home," said one.   
Rev sneered, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "That's great. Go along, you guys."   
The two goth killjoys exited the tent flap, and Jet followed, along with Ghoul and Kobra. Poison was on his way out too, but Rev grabbed his wrist and turned him around.  
"Uh-uh. You're staying here. We're gonna have a chat, cousin-to-cousin."  
Poison pulled at his wrist, attempted to escape her grasp, to no avail. "Kobe is your cousin too, yknow."  
"Well, this doesn't concern him."   
"But it does concern them?" Poison gestured to the black-haired girls that surrounded the two gang leaders. They looked dead-eyed at Poison.  
"Them? They don't care," Rev assured. "What matters is that you're here and your other friends are not. Have a seat."  
Poison had a seat. The ground of the tent was covered in black and red pillows, so it was nice and cushy.   
"Would you like something to drink?"   
Poison considered. "You got soda?"   
"We've got tea bags and water."   
"You have tea bags but not soda?"  
Rev nodded. "We like to splurge here."  
"Alright."  
Rev lowered a tea bag into a bottle of water. It sat for a moment.   
"Well.. while we're waiting on that.." Poison began awkwardly. "Is this a serious matter?"   
Rev stirred the tea, not looking up, eyes fixated on the bottle. "Depends on your definition of serious. To me it is.”  
Poison nodded, understanding now. "Ah, I know what this is about."   
"I thought you would."   
Poison looked down. "It's not really something I'm comfortable talking about."  
Rev looked up, still stirring. "Not even with Kobra?"  
"Not even with anyone."  
"Hm." Rev continued to stir with her finger. "Well, if it's that serious.. I guess I'll leave you alone about it. I'm sure if you won't talk about it with the person you're closest to in the world, you won't talk about it with me."  
"Thanks for respecting my boundaries," Poison remarked. "Even though you just slapped the ever loving shit out of me."   
"I at least hope you learned a lesson or whatever." Rev stopped stirring. "Sorry about slapping you by the way. Put some ice on that when you get back to the diner."   
"I will," Poison assured.   
Rev smiled. "Oh, your tea is ready, by the way."  
"Thanks," Poison replied. He took the bottle when Rev handed it to him, and took a swig.   
His face scrunched up. "This tastes like shit."   
"Yeah, well we don't have sugar, so, suck it up," Rev replied.   
Poison nodded, and took another sip. It was like the aftertaste came first. But, he wasn't about to pass up something to drink. It at least tasted better than cactus water.   
"Remember when we lived in the city?"   
Poison raised his eyebrows. "Yeah..?"  
"I sometimes miss that."  
Poison was taken aback. "You miss the city??"  
"Bitch, no! Of course not! You think the city would let me dress the way I do? I'm glad I'm away from that fucking hellscape they call a city," Rev exclaimed. "Let me rephrase. I miss when we were kids and our families had us hang out all the time."  
"Yeah?"   
"Yeah. Back when my hair was still brown, and you were still- well, y'know."  
"Yeah, don't mention it," Poison mumbled.   
"Anyways, where I'm going with this is- back then we'd tell each other fuckin' everything- our parents were always busy having their own conversations so we didn't really have anyone monitoring us, up until when the surveillance flies started getting released. I think I was the first person you told that you wanted to.. escape."  
"Then we grew up."   
Rev nodded somberly. "Yeah," she replied. "Exactly. But when you were missing I realized that I kinda miss that. I realize that i coulda visited you anytime but as soon as that option was gone I kinda felt bad, so.. here I am, I guess."   
"Hm." Poison nodded. "Well, if you wanna do that now.. the others will be occupied for a while, won't they?"  
"Yeah, my girls will know exactly when to come back." Rev winked.   
Poison disregarded that. "What do we wanna talk about?"  
Rev's green eyes lit up. "Oooh, wait, hold up. Can I just.. rant to you about my girlfriend?"  
Poison was surprised. He had heard nothing about any girlfriend in the past years. "Sure," he eventually said.   
"Ok, so her name is Mariah-"  
"Oooh, that's a pretty name. Did she not get a new name coming to the desert?"   
"Nah, she did. It's just not really a traditional killjoy name."  
"Eh, I've heard weirder," Poison replied, thinking of Show Pony.   
"So yeah, her name's Mariah and we've been together for about nine months now. She's mute because she got her tongue cut out but it's okay because she and I both know ASL-"  
"Whoa whoa whoa, she got her tongue cut out?"  
"Yeah, a while ago when she was a.. carbon dater. She hung out with some terrible shady people in the city just to make a carbon and they did real bad shit to her until I swooped in like 'Hey I'm here to rescue you from selling your body' and she was like 'Oh sweet' so we escaped together and formed the caskettes."  
"Wow, I missed that part of your tragic backstory," Poison remarked. "Have I met Mariah before?"  
"You've prolly seen her around at some point in your travels. She's not around much because she's off doing odd jobs so we can afford food. Usually she's around at night time though."  
"Ah, she's that kind of worker huh?" Poison nodded. "Must be hard to find time for the relationship, then, right?"  
"We're goths, Poison, we're more active at night anyways." Rev chuckled.   
"I dunno, man. I just dunno if I could like, carry out a relationship like that… where the other person is working all the time, I mean. Like, who's gonna pay attention to me when they're gone?"   
"I mean, that's how it works in the city."  
"Yeah, the city sucks though."   
"Pft, agreed," Rev giggled. "Well, I think that's enough about me- tell me about you, Pois. Have you a relationship of your own?" A curious smile crept across Rev's face.   
"Uhhhhhhh…"   
Rev's eyebrows raised. "Mm, that's not a no?"  
"Well, I'm single, but-"  
"You've got an unrequited love," Rev finished.  
"Well, I don't know about unrequited, it's just that-"   
"You've got a crush and you don't know if it's reciprocated."  
"Exactly," Poison replied. "Jesus, you can really read me like a book, can't you?"  
"I live with seven other girls, Poison," Rev mused. "I know everything there is to know about petty relationship drama."  
"Hey, it's not petty!"  
Rev's green eyes lit up. "It's Ghoul, isn't it?"   
It was like Poison had just been shot in the side of the head. It hurt. It hurt knowing that Rev could so easily tell exactly what was going on. Poison didn't want to tell her the truth, but.. at this point he didn't have much of a choice in the matter, did he?   
"...yes."  
"Ahhhhhhh." Rev sucked the air in through her teeth. "That's.. rough, dude. I can't even imagine."   
Poison bit his tongue. He didn't want to spill his guts all over his cousin, but… she did ask, after all.   
"We've been friends since we were sixteen," Poison murmured. "I dunno if you know how old I am, but that's a while."  
"Have you had a crush on him ever since you met?"  
"No, no, I mean- he's always been a really cute guy, but I never really imagined us getting together until like last year- we were at the nest after a Mad Gear concert, and we were both wasted as hell, and things just kind of- happened."  
Rev looked very emotionally invested in the discussion. She slowly nodded her head. "You hooked up?"  
"What?? No!!" Poison exclaimed. "We just kissed. He passed out before we really had the chance to go any farther.   
"Ah, I see," Rev mused. Under her breath, she murmured, "It was only a kiss, how did it end up like this? It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss."  
Poison crossed his arms. "Normally I'd be enthused with early 2000s emo references but now isn't really the time."  
"Apologies."   
Poison had forgotten how cool Rev had the capacity to be. Sure, she could be a pain in the ass- or in the cheek, in this case- but sometimes she could be really down to earth and could carry out important conversations. She reminded him vaguely of Ghoul. Just with even edgier looks.  
"So do you plan on telling him ever?"   
"I guess," Poison lied. He actually had no idea what he was gonna do about it, but he didn't like telling people whenever he was feeling indecisive.   
"You should, y'know. That's the only way you'll ever get closure."  
"What do you mean by closure?"  
"I mean, it's not rocket science," Rev reasoned. "You're never going to know how he feels about you until you're honest with him."  
"Hmm. What if he confesses to me first?"  
"Do you really think that's going to happen?"  
Poison frowned. He knew Rev was right, it was just hard to admit. "No."  
"Then you gotta do what you gotta do, guy."   
Again, Poison knew Rev was right. He just couldn't fathom how that would possibly work out. Poison had never even been in a real relationship, he had never trusted anyone enough to get into one, so he didn't even know how that kind of thing. Everything Poison knew about love he had learned from porny comic books and Ghoul's past boyfriends. They never lasted longer than a few weeks, which was probably part of the reason Poison felt like he shouldn't go for it.  
"I.. probably won't do it, man. Ghoul never stays with anyone for too long."  
"Obviously it's your choice," Rev replied. "But like, if you're gonna keep pining over this fella, the best option is probably to give it a shot."  
"You'd think that," Poison mumbled. "But from what I can tell he's… weird. About relationships."  
"Weird how so?"   
Poison bit his lip. "I really shouldn't be talking about him behind his back like this.."   
Rev stared him dead in the eyes. "Nope. Keep talking."   
Poison knew he was in for it if he didn't do as told, so he did. "I guess- obviously I don't know firsthand, cause, ha, I've never dated him, but- honestly sometimes it seems like he's more intimate with us- his friends I mean- than the people he actually dates."  
"Does he usually date people who are also his friends?"  
"I-"   
When Poison took a minute to think, he couldn't really distinctly remember any of the people Ghoul had dated. He had vague images- outlines of faces, basic personalities. But none of them really struck a chord with him, probably because he loved to pretend they didn't exist.  
"No," Poison decided.  
"Well, maybe he'll be intimate with you if you're both," Rev explained.   
"You're sounding really ambitious."  
"That's what it's all about, dude. Gotta go for the kill."  
"How do you even-"  
"Look, take it from someone currently in a super awesome relationship," Rev advised. "If you want the prize, you gotta win it. Go up to that guy and say 'I love your face'. Works 1000% of the time."  
"That sounds like a recipe for disaster."  
"I mean, hey, you like his face, do you not?"  
"GOD, yes," Poison practically burst out.   
"Then tell him that!!!"  
Poison placed a finger on the bottom of his chin. This idea was seriously considered. "Do you do that with your girlfriend? And more importantly does it work?"  
"It doesn't *not* work!" Rev shrugged.  
"Yeah, I…" Poison took a sip of his tea. "I'm.. not gonna do that."  
"I. Actually don't blame you, surprisingly," Rev replied. "Come to think of that that's probably something that's better for saying to someone you've been in a relationship with for a while to make them chuckle rather than an actual confession."  
"Yeah."  
"Well, if that's the conclusion we came to, then we really didn't decide anything, did we?"   
"There's a party at the nest soon. Kobra was telling me that I should tell him while we're there," Poison explained. "I think that might be my best bet."  
"When is it?"  
"Like…. Six days now."   
"Hm. Well, if you can make it that long.. that sounds good." Rev winked.   
Poison flipped his middle finger at Rev. "Whatever, I'll do what I want. Oh, speaking of which-"  
"Myessss?"  
"I've been, uh- eyeing your wardrobe over here-"  
Poison gestured to the piles of folded clothes in the corner of the tent. Jackets, shirts.. skirts. Most if not all were black.   
"You wanna borrow something?"  
Poison nodded. "Mhm, yes please!"  
Rev eyes Poison up and down suspiciously. "You want a skirt, don't you?"   
Poison nodded faster. "Yes!!"  
"You drag bitch." Rev smirked. "Here, you can just keep one. We've got a surplus."  
"Ooooooooh."  
Rev pulled a leather miniskirt out from the middle of one of the piles. She placed it on the ground and smoothed it out with her forearm, then gently placed it into Poison's hands.   
His eyes lit up.  
"This is the best gift I've ever been given," he whispered.   
"Better than the gift of life itself?" Rev asked, only half joking.   
"Life? Bitch, I'd take a pin over life. Life. What a joke," Poison muttered.   
"Have fun with your skirt, Poison. It's time for you to leave."  
"Wait, are the others gonna-"   
"Get out of my tent."  
"Yes ma'am."   
Luckily for Poison, his gang was patiently waiting outside in the trans am. The other caskettes were waiting there too, making small talk with the others, especially Kobra.  
"He's aliiive!" Ghoul exclaimed upon seeing Poison.  
Poison smiled at Ghoul, before immediately turning to the other members. The smile had no feeling in it. It shouldn't have come as such a surprise, but seeing Ghoul's face after the conversation he and Rev had just had, wasn't very pleasant.   
"So, that tour was really weird. Your group is really weird," Jet said to Rev.  
"Insult my crew again and I'll sock you in the jaw," Rev replied casually. "Anyways, hope you had fun."  
"We really didn't," Kobra mumbled under his breath. Rev shot him the evil eye, and he immediately recoiled. A whimper escaped his lips.  
Ghoul looked up at Poison, craning his neck through the rolled-down window of the trans am. "Why didn't you come along, Pois? We missed you."   
Oh god, those words made Poison feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy on the inside. He pushed it away though, and bit his tongue to keep from grinning like an idiot.   
Rev nudged him. Oh, right.  
"We just had important stuff to talk about. Top secret leader business. Very personal."  
"Pft, yeah right. I bet you just wanted to try on Rev's clothes," Ghoul joked.  
Poison sucked in his lip. His hand clutching Rev's miniskirt grew tighter.   
"Well, you might never know what really happened. It's top secret leader business," Rev replied, placing a hand on Poison's shoulder. Poison nodded in agreement.  
"Well, we should probably get going, right Pois?" Ghoul looked up at his friend expectantly.  
"Oh, yeah, sure." Poison nodded again. "Nice seeing you, Revvo."  
"Yeah, don't push your luck." Rev rolled her eyes. "And we'll meet again soon. I refuse to go without talking again for as long as we did. Plus I still need to show off my super awesome girlfriend to you."  
"That's fair," Poison supposed. "I'm gonna get in the car now. See you soonish, Sweet Revenge."  
"And also with you, lil' weirdo." Rev smirked. "And have fun with your new skirt," she mouthed.   
"I will," Poison mouthed back.  
***  
In the blink of an eye the killjoys were gone down the getaway mile. Slowly the black tents faded out of view and the sand turned a normal hue as the car entered back into what the caskettes would call Prep Territory. Party Poison was sitting in the driver's seat, on top of the leather skirt he had been gifted. Nobody had even noticed it yet, and Pois was taking advantage of that. He wanted it to be a surprise for anyone who cared.  
"How was your tour of the area?" Poison asked gently.  
"Boring." Jet murmured.  
"The black sand was pretty cool to learn about," Ghoul chimed.  
Jet glared at Fun Ghoul. "Yeah, well you're the only one of us who's even a little interested in learning about bombs, Ghoul."   
"Those girls were creepy as hell," Kobra added, sounding a little disturbed. "They kept looking at me funny. One of them kept saying I had a really symmetrical face."  
"They're not wrong y'know," Ghoul replied. "If I took a meat cleaver down the center of your skull, I'd have matching halves. That's very important."  
Kobra looked at Ghoul really weirdly. "Please never say anything like that ever again."   
"Noted."  
Poison was a little taken aback by that comment. Ghoul said weird things all the time but, like, that was a genuinely weird and creepy thing to say. He didn't quite know how to react. Luckily he didn't have to. At least not directly.  
"Man, what's up with you today?"  
Ghoul turned. "What about it, Jet?"   
"You've been saying strange things all day. Ever since the tour especially. You're just weird today."  
Poison hadn't been there for the tour, so he didn't feel like it was appropriate to talk. However, he did recognize that Ghoul was just as confused as him.  
"I guess I'm just working out some stuff," Ghoul supposed. "Just got good sleep for the first time in a while so I might be acting a little weird, heh."  
Good sleep, eh? Ah, there was the warm fuzziness again.   
6 days. Poison had 6 days to plan until he was gonna lay it all out.   
He knew those next few days were gonna be hellish. No, he didn't know if or how he was gonna do it, but he'd have to make it work somehow. He was fully prepared to die in the process, but it would be pretty great if he didn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey gang!! Sorry this chapter was a little later in the day than usual.... don't worry, i didn't forget about you!!  
> well, maybe i did.. but only until 9am! after that i got straight to work!!!


	9. Fudge!!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghoul visits Poison at night.   
> Poison is left alone.   
> Ghoul makes a mistake and pays for it.

Chapter 9 - Fudge!!!!  
The engine was just above a hum. They were almost to the diner and quite far into Prep Territory, which was definitely a word Poison was going to use regularly now that he knew it was a term that existed.  
When they got to the diner, the first thing that caught Poison's eye was Show Pony, swooning dramatically against the side of the diner. What a dork.  
Show Pony stopped swooning once the sound of the trans am reached their ears. As soon as the car stopped in a parking spot, they ran over and propped their body up onto the hood, and swooned some more.   
Jet hopped out of the seat first. "Wow, what's up with you?"  
Pony sighed. "Just thinking about how in love I am."  
"With who?" Poison asked curiously.  
"Oh, I don't know. Someone, hopefully." Pony's legs hung off the edge of the hood, swinging.   
"You're so weird."   
Poison stepped out after Jet, the leather miniskirt that had been given to him by Rev clutched firmly behind his back.  
"Anyways, come inside. We got the good shit."  
Kobra sighed. "This is the desert, how good can it be," he mumbled.   
"Oh trust me, it's actually not terrible at the moment. Come inside, I'll show you." Pony gestured to the diner door.   
The fab four nodded, following Pony as they disappeared into the diner.   
***  
"See, I told you we had the good shit!"  
In his hand Party Poison circled a bottle given to him by Pony. The label was in cursive, which Poison didn't know how to read, but according to Cherri it was a grapefruit flavored shandy. Whatever that meant. All Pois knew was that Pony wasn't shitting. After they took a sip they knew that.   
Poison had never tasted a grapefruit, but if it tasted anything like how it looked, then it probably tasted a lot like this.  
"I won't lie," Poison remarked. "This is pretty fucking good."  
"Right?"   
Poison nodded. He took another swig. "This is the kind of thing I'd drink while bathing in the blood of my enemies."  
"Ah, get over yourself you edgy fuck," Kobra replied. "Ey Cherri-o, mind if I get my hands on one of those?"  
"I second that!" Ghoul exclaimed from across the diner.  
"I didn't know you had hands, Ghoul," Cherri remarked. "I knew about your filthy, disgusting rat talons, but I didn't know you had normal human hands as well."  
"Fuck off Cherri," Ghoul spat.   
Cherri chuckled. He disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing with two bottles.   
Poison washed his mouth in the citrusy beer. Ten minutes ago he hadn't known that this flavor existed, but he felt like he had been searching for it his entire life.   
"Aaaahhh," Poison exhaled. "Is this what heaven feels like?"  
"Not in the slightest," Cherri replied, "And no offense, Pois, but you're definitely not going to heaven."   
"That's fair, I'm definitely going to hell," Poison agreed.  
It was surprisingly hot in the diner, which it normally wasn’t, especially during the winter months. Luckily the beers kept the fab 4 and friends cool. Except Pony, who wasn't drinking anything but something that looked like rancid lemon juice in a champagne glass as they sunbathed on top of the bar counter by a window, taking sips through the bottom of their helmet.   
As for Poison's skirt? It had been slickly and securely hidden under the sink in the diner kitchen, behind some cleaning supplies that never got used. Poison had put it there after asking to use the bathrooms (which should've been a red flag that Poison was hiding something, by the way- nobody ever uses those bathrooms, they're so disgusting that most people would rather piss outside or in a can or something- but somehow no one noticed) before the drinking had started. There it would stay until it was time to sleep, then Poison would wear it in the morning. He was so excited to show it off. Poison hadn't worn a skirt in- kind of a while, actually. In at least a few months. Usually he saved it for the summer months when the nest parties got more populated and he had all the more eyes on him. In the zones, crossdressing isn't uncommon, but if you can really work it, then you'll get a lot of attention. Mostly from guys. Poison often made it work pretty damn well, so naturally he got.. the attention.   
Alcohol travelled from bottles to veins. Poison didn't get drunk easily, at least not compared to certain very small killjoys he knew. But since he was kind of an idiot already by default, tipsiness didn't do him all that many favors. His dumb little gay brain worked pretty similarly to how the others worked, which made sense considering they were all some kind of queer, and some kind of dumb, but especially in Ghoul's case, considering he was very, very small. A smaller body meant less blood and less blood meant more alcohol in the blood. That was Poison's understanding of it, anyway. That is how it works, right?  
Poison set his third beer on the counter, and with a sigh, he stood up straight. "Sun's starting to set, joys. Should we get going? If we don't leave now we're gonna be cold walking back," He declared.   
"Mmnah," Ghoul replied, taking a sip of his fourth (oh no). "Fuck the cold, I wanna stay."  
"Well, feel free to freeze to death walking back, but I agree with Pois." Jet crossed his arms, taking Poison's side.   
"I second that," Kobra chimed in. "Well, third, actually."  
Ghoul pouted. "You guys are no fun."  
"And you're buzzed," Jet chided. "Come on, Ghoulie, all three of us are leaving and we are so not leaving you here to drink alone."  
Ghoul crossed his arms. "I'm not alone, I've got Show Pony here to keep me company."   
"I'm actually leaving in a hot minute," Pony countered. "Prolly gonna skate through zone 6 and see how long I can hold my breath without inhaling the heavy radiation and toxic fumes. See you guys later."  
"Please, try not to die," Jet replied.   
"Ehh, I'll do my best," Pony replied, and sashayed out. The door clicked closed behind them, finalizing Ghoul's decision.   
The other three killjoys' eyes were all on Ghoul. What was it going to be?  
"Well- Cherri's still here!" he stuttered.  
"Dude, there is no way you are leaving me alone here with Ghoul," Cherri warned, pointing at the other three.  
"That's fair," Jet agreed. "Come on, Ghoul. We're going back."  
"Mmf, fine." Ghoul tensed up, scrunched into a little ball of begrudge, and Poison felt like he was actually going to die because Ghoul was honestly being too adorable for this sinful world and Poison didn't know how he'll be able to wait six more days for this stupid party to happen.   
And oh god, he's turned bright red again. And the sun wasn't even fully set yet. So it was kinda out there for the world to see.   
Poison made an effort to hide his face from the others by turning his head dramatically, but that may have just made the impression that he was mad. "Jet, could you deal with him please?"  
"On it." Jet embraced Ghoul and brought him up to his feet, then led him outside where the buzzing cicadas greeted them as they trudged through the parking lot back to the trans am. Kobra quickly followed, and muffled chatter could be heard from the three.   
With an array of slightly buzzed movements, Poison made his way back into the diner kitchen and, after making sure Cherri was distracted, took the miniskirt he had been gifted and held it low below his waist and behind his legs so no one could see. After gathering his bearings, he shuffled back out to the trans am.   
When the fab four got back to the motel, they were pretty damn tired. by the time the sun had sank completely below the horizon, Jet had tucked Ghoul into bed (he had planned on forcing Poison to do it, but he wasn't about to go anywhere near Ghoul's bedroom, even if you PAID him) and Kobra had headed to bed by himself. Poison was the last awake, but he eventually drifted off as well. One silver lining to the whole disappearing dilemma, it meant Poison could finally get some decent sleep.   
***  
Or.. maybe not.  
"Psst!"  
Poison blinked awake, but when he opened his eyes, he didn't see anything different compared to when his eyes were closed. All was black. What sound could that have been.  
"Pssst!!"  
The door creaked open, and a yellow slit of light revealed itself where Poison's door would have been if he could see anything. A single green eye opened wide, at eye level with Poison.  
"What the… fuck?" Poison breathed, still a little too groggy to process.   
"Hey!" Ghoul exclaimed, but in a way where his voice was too quiet, yet shrill, for anyone but Poison to hear.  
"What the fuck are you doing awake?" Poison croaked

"...Well, I'm not sure! But I can't get back to sleep, sooo," Ghoul answered simply.  
"Well gee, thanks for waking me up," Poison grumbled, tossing and turning in bed.  
"Wait nonono, don't go back to sleep, I wanna talk!!"  
Poison frowned. "Are you still buzzed?"  
"Not really. Maybe a little teensy bit," Ghoul answered honestly. "But my real objective here is to get you to pay attention to me because my sleep schedule is still wack as fuck and I can't sleep.”   
“Have you slept at all yet?”  
“Yeah, a little. I missed you though.”  
Oh god, ok. This was happening now. Poison knew the drunker Ghoul was the more touchy-feely he got. He- wasn't about to complain though. His brain was just a huge pile of emotions and all of them are fighting for control. He kind of wants to say no, to send Ghoul back to bed, but he also really wants to say yes.   
What would a responsible person do?  
A responsible person would go FUCK THEMSELVES! I'm gonna do it!  
Ghoul lay down on the bed, completely limp, a sleepy look in his eyes. A dumb smile spreads across his face. Oh my god, stop, stop it. Stop it right now.  
Poison wasn't thinking. He was so fixated on- whatever this was turning into- that he couldn't be bothered to. With his right hand he held the bottom of Ghoul's chin, using the other hand to brush a lock of inky black hair out of his face.   
Ghoul accepted it, his eyes gently closed. He didn't move.   
Poison's left hand moved to the side of Ghoul's face. Entirely focused, he caressed the smaller killjoy's cheekbone with his thumb. Ghoul let him. His eyes became just open enough so you could see a sliver of his green irises. He looked lost in thought.  
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Poison asked gently, eyes not moving.  
"Mm," Ghoul groaned. "Fudge."  
Poison kept massaging Ghoul's cheekbones, now using both hands, gently rubbing both cheeks in circular motion. They were so defined. Poison could probably stay like this forever. "Fudge? That's random."   
"Yeah, I know," Ghoul replied in a low voice. "But isn't it good?"   
"I don't really remember what it tastes like, I don't think I've had any kind of chocolate since I left the city," Poison murmured. Just adding his input. Ghoul and him weren't even really having a conversation, he was just listening to Ghoul softly ramble and sometimes adding his own opinion, though Ghoul was hardly listening.   
"Fudge brownies are always the best," Ghoul breathed.   
"I…" Poison couldn't think of anything else to say. "You're… very soft."  
"Mm, so are you," Ghoul mumbled sleepily. "Like… peanut butter fudge. And you're mushy. Like cake batter."  
"Mushy?"  
"Yeah," Ghoul replied. He raised his right hand and poked Poison's cheek. He was right, it was pretty soft.   
"Boop!" Ghoul giggled.   
"Hey!"   
"See? You're mushy."   
In the position they were in, Ghoul's upper body was pushed against the head of the bed, which was propped up against the wall. Poison was facing him, sitting with his legs crossed. Directly across from where Ghoul is, but since he was sitting up and Ghoul's body was mostly still down, he was looking at Ghoul from above. Of course, this wasn't abnormal, as Ghoul was tiny anyway.  
"You look tired," Poison pointed out. "I thought you said you couldn't sleep."  
"Yeah, I am now." Ghoul yawned, showing his sharp teeth. "You make me tired."  
"I guess that's good," Poison remarked, but by the type he said this Ghoul was clearly starting to doze off. Poison removed his hands from Ghoul's cheeks and as soon as he did Ghoul's eyes closed and with a long, slow breath he melts into a puddle in Poison's lap.   
Then Ghoul was in Poison's lap, breathing against his legs, and it would be a crime for Poison to move and disturb the sleeping angel, but only now did Poison realize just what the FUCK is going on. This whole time he'd been calmly talking with Ghoul, a sleepy, slightly buzzed boy, a very very cute sleepy angel, and he'd somehow been keeping his cool the whole time without freaking out. Maybe it's the fact that Ghoul started it.  
Poison's heart was pounding, but the feeling of Ghoul sleeping soundly in his lap, breathing softly, has slowly began to calm him down.   
Was now a good time to start being responsible..?  
Nah, there was never really a good time for that.  
Poison's hand shakily moved from the covers of the bed back up to the top of Ghoul's head. He ran his fingers through the void of jet black hair that flowed down Ghoul's scalp. Messy, but soft and, honestly, kind of toasty. There were some stray hairs on top that stuck out in weird places, and Poison's attempt to flatten or smooth them out weren't really working.  
Ghoul's hand moved up and grabbed Poison's.   
Poison's heart skipped a beat. His fingernails, he thought. When did he have time to clip them?  
"You should sleep too," he breathed.  
"Yeah," Poison barely manages to get out before Ghoul's hand has returned back to its spot beside Poison's leg.   
Ghoul's right, Poison thinks. I should probably get some shuteye.  
So they do. Poison and Ghoul get some 'shuteye' together. And it's the best the both of them have slept in MONTHS.  
In the dark, and out of harm.  
***  
By the morning, Ghoul was gone.   
Poison woke up in his bed, alone, feeling like he'd just slept for a thousand years. He slowly lifted his zombie body up off the mattress. The other side of it was cold. Poison's hands were cold, too.  
As Poison pulled off his big pajama t shirt and tugged on a grey tank top, he thought about Ghoul- which wasn't abnormal, of course. This was just a really weird time for him.  
How Poison's hand gently graced the side of Ghoul's face- and his sleepy grin. How they had fallen asleep together- for the second night in a row, he might add.   
Poison's eyes darted to the leather miniskirt that was hung on the end of the bed. Oh, right! Today was the day where THAT was gonna happen. Ghoul had been too sleepy to notice it, or anything really, which was lucky because Poison planned on it being a surprise. Taking it in his hands, he examined it. It wasn't all that fancy, but it was.. pretty.   
And it has pockets! Poison thought. What a lucky strike.  
The skirt went on. Poison felt amazing. He'd done skirts before, obviously, but not in a kind of a while, and he'd never done ones before that were so damn BREATHY. It was perfect. He'd wear it every day if he could. Maybe he could do that, actually.   
Actually, nah. Maybe when summer comes along.  
Poison did a little strut around the room, like a fashion model. He felt goddamn fabulous.   
Poison kept strutting. He strutted all the way outside his room and into the lobby, where Kobra was sitting on one of the couches, one leg propped up on the coffee table, the other on the floor, eating out of a power pup can placed in his lap. "Morning, bro."  
"Hey Kobes!" Poison replied cheerily. "Notice anything different?"  
"Hmm.." Kobra scratched his chin. "Is that shirt new?"  
Poison glared at his brother. "The skirt, Kobe."  
"Yeah, I know. Just teasing you," Kobra replied. "You look good."  
"Damn right I do," Poison muttered, doing a little spin.  
"What, are you dressed to impress? Planning on, say.. telling anyone anything today?" Kobra jeered.   
"Oh shut the fuck upppp," Poison spat, and groaned. "What if he heard you say that?"   
"Who, Ghoul? He's not here right now," Kobra replied. "He and Jet are out doing some odd jobs to get carbons."  
"Oh, lame," Poison muttered. "And why aren't you also out doing that?"  
"I think Jet wanted me to stay here to make sure that you didn't wake up alone," Kobra explained.   
"Y'know what? Fair point," Poison agreed.   
Poison craned his body over to the coffee table to grab a can of power pup. His hand closed around it, and he used his teeth to open it up. He poured a tiny amount of water into it to make it less dry, and started chowing down. He was hungry as hell. Kobra could tell.  
"Geez, where are your table manners?" The taller of the two brothers remarked, watching Poison shovel the power pup into his open mouth.  
"Left em in the city along with my dignity," Poison replied through a mouthful of food. He gulped. "Ahh."  
"You're gross."  
Kobra was in the right state of mind. Poison could tell because he was acting like the only smart member of the fab 4, which was somewhat normal, considering he was pretty much the only member of the fab 4 who knew anything past 'be gay, do crimes'. "How come you like, never have a hangover in the morning? It's weird."  
"I'm tall," Kobra answered simply.  
"So is Jet. He's taller than you."  
"I'm tall and lanky," Kobra finished.  
"That's fair."   
Truthfully, Poison was a tad worried about Ghoul. Though the night before he had been acting fucking adorable, he had also been acting.. not sober. Poison could only hope that whatever he and Jet were up to, nothing bad was going to happen.  
It was a boring morning that day. To say the least.  
After what had happened the night before, Poison felt- oh god, he felt needy. Not in that way! He just- he was a little touch starved. But only a little, he told himself. I can live without him until he's done working, Poison assured himself  
Well, he was right. Kind of.  
Kobra and Poison ended up spending their time tinkering on the trans am. Well, Kobra tinkered, anyway (the guy can't drive but he sure as hell can tinker.) Poison mostly spent this time painting it and occasionally handing his brother a tool that he needed, like a surgeon's assistant.   
At this moment, Poison was painting a third addition of his logo on the underside- the other two were on the hood and bumper respectively. A large, circular streak of red paint, with a capsule-shape and an 'x' right below it. Poison knew his logo as well as the back of his jacket. Probably because the logo was on the back of his jacket.   
Fudge, huh?   
No, no- not thinking about that right now. Poison locked his eyes on his painting. Focusing deeply on his work.   
Immaculate detail. He had to busy himself with immaculate detail. Make sure that the circle was perfectly rounded. Make sure that the two colors of the capsule were perfectly split in two equal halves.   
There. Perfection.  
Poison pushes himself out from under the car, his face caked with dust and red paint. "It's done," he huffed.  
"Whatcha make?" Kobra peered over from the hood of the trans am, his face covered with soot.   
"Just another.. self indulgent piece," Poison replied.  
"You repainted your logo?"  
"I repainted my damn logo," Poison repeated.  
"C'mon, you couldn't have thought of anything else?"   
I could have. "I dunno, just feeling uninspired today I guess."  
"Hm. You get enough sleep?"   
Not really, but.. "Yeah, but I don't think that's the problem."  
"Hm. Well, if it'll cheer you up- it's almost noon, and Jet and Ghoul said they'd be back by lunch. So they'll definitely be back soon."  
"Oh, that's cool," Poison replied, trying to sound nonchalant, when really inside he was- pretty fucking ecstatic, to be honest.   
***  
It was a fucking miracle that the clock in the motel lobby still worked.   
The thing must've been over 20 years but somehow it stayed accurate. Poison didn't even know how to read the damn thing- that was Kobra's biz, he knew how to read best out of all of them. All Poison needed to know was that when the long and short hands reached the number twelve, it meant that Ghoul and Jet would be back soon.  
He was on the couch in the lobby, swinging his legs, his hands in his lap with his fingers interlocked with his own. Party Poison's frozen gaze was locked on the clock. Unblinking. The tiny red hand moved much faster than the other two, and Poison found himself wishing the other hands would move just as fast.   
Time moves slow as hell.  
Unsurprisingly, Poison got bored quickly. What else was there to do though?   
Not much.  
It was then that Poison started to realize what a pathetic piece of shit he must have seemed like that this point. What the fuck was he doing? Did he really not have anything else to do?   
Poison found himself feeling like a total fucking loser.   
Where was Kobra? He would cheer him up.  
Last time he had seen his brother, he was out by the trans am, still working. But when Poison went out to check, he was nowhere to be seen.   
Oh god, he wasn't alone, was he?   
"Kobra Kid!!" He called, trying to stay remotely calm. "Come on, Kobes, where are youuu???"  
There wasn't a response. Other than the echo of Poison's own voice.   
Poison's heart sank all the way down to a pit in his stomach. Someone would be back soon, surely. Whether it was Jet and Ghoul, or Kobra first, he'd be fine eventually.   
The red-haired killjoy slumped down on the couch. His face was tense as he aggressively tried to maintain a neutral expression, and his fingers gripped his knees as he hugged his legs tightly. A deep breath escaped his lips.  
If anyone knew how deeply afraid of being alone Poison was, he'd break their legs.   
In truth, that was why he only disappeared for two weeks. He had planned to disappear forever. Never come home. Live the rest of his days as a lonesome, cryptic hermit.   
Fortunately, forever didn't last that long, because Poison had already driven himself insane by the two-week mark. Obviously now that he knew the toll it took on the others mentally, if he could go back and do it again, he wouldn't have left.   
But it was different in the desert, because out in the open sun you were never really alone. There can be not a single living person in sight but of course there are still ghosts that you can talk to. Granted, Poison preferred the company of his brother and friends much more than ghost strangers, but at least they were someone.  
There's no ghosts here.   
And to say the least, Poison is...  
***  
"Oh god-"  
Those were the first words that reached Poison's ears in a good hour. His eyes shot open.  
There they were.   
"Poison, are you- uh!"   
Poison grabbed Jet's waist, surprising him with a hug attack. He doesn't let go. Jet's hands rested gently on his shoulders, and Poison gestured to Ghoul to join in too.   
Ghoul joined the hug.  
Poison's face was buried in Jet's jacket, now wet with tears. He took huffy breaths, still gripped around his two best friends (not counting Kobra of course, because siblings don't count).  
"Is everything alright, Pois?" Jet asked, sounding thoroughly concerned.   
"Do I look the part, dumbass?" Poison shot Jet a look, though he didn't mean what he said in the slightest.   
"Not even a little bit," Ghoul replied.  
Poison slumped to the ground, still tense, his face red from sobbing. "Kobra left me alone, that jackass," he mumbled.   
"Oh my godddd," Jet balled his hands into fists.   
"Don't fight him," Poison chastised "Give him a stern talking to. Be a good mother."   
"I'm gonna scold the living shit out of him," Jet replied.  
"That's the spirit."   
Ghoul frowned.   
"Alright, Mister, get off the floor," Jet ordered.  
"Oh, yeah, sure." Shakily, Poison got to his feet. Soon he stood above Ghoul again (though he was still shorter than Jet, and he fucking HATED that shit). He shuffled his feet.   
"So where did Kobra go?" Jet asked.   
"I don't KNOW," Poison exclaimed. "All I know is that he freaked me the FUCK OUT and I'm never gonna forgive him."  
"You'll forgive him in like two hours."Jet corrected.  
"Yeah, you're probably right. More like 10 minutes actually."  
Poison brushed the dust off his jacket. Ghoul sized him up.   
"I like your skirt," he says, in somewhat of a murmur.   
Poison looked him in the eye, holding the inside of his bottom lip between his teeth while he articulated a response.   
"Thanks," he managed to get out.   
In his head, Poison was shouting. I'm going to wear this every fucking day, until it's reduced a pile of leather scraps.  
"Yeah, it suits you," Jet agreed. "Haven't seen you wear anything like that in a while."  
Ghoul's head shot up, his eyes bright with an idea. "Oh! Poison, by any chance do you still have that, uhh, feather boa of yours?"  
"Which one?" Poison tucked a red lock of hair behind his ear, letting out a giggle. "I have like, ten."  
"Uhhh.." Ghoul stroked his chin while he thought. "The, uhh- the pink one?"   
"Pastel or hot pink?"  
"Hot pink would prolly look better with leather," Ghoul replied sensibly.  
"I second that. Make ya look like a scene queen," Jet added.   
"Pff, you say that as if he's not one already." Ghoul stuck his split tongue out at Jet, his hands on his hips. Ghoul called Poison a scene queen, and while Poison genuinely wasn't sure if it was meant as a good thing, it still sent a ton of serotonin molecules into circulation.   
"Wait, Ghoul, why do you ask? Do you want me to go get it? I can go get it," Poison insisted  
"If you want." Ghoul answered. "Wanna get all dolled up just for a day at home with friends? Go ahead, it's not like I'm about to stop you."  
Poison nodded. He turned around and sprinted into his bedroom, his heart racing. It's time to do exactly what his days of trying on his mother's clothes when no one was home had trained him to do. He was gonna blow everyone out of the water with just how fabulous he was. Show Pony who? Frankenstein girls who? It's all about Poison, baby, and he loves when the spotlight is all his.   
Now where was that pink boa…?   
At one point they were all hung up on hangers, but then Poison had started getting things that actually needed to be put on hangers and they all got moved to a cardboard box in the corner. the box was a mess of feathers of all colors, but goddamnit, where was the hot pink one? It was literally his most used one. Why wouldn’t it be at the very top of the pile?  
Poison was continuing his rummage around in the box, in search for his beloved feather boa, when the sound of a creaking screen door met his ears. Kobra must be back. Poison was about to go say hi, but realized he couldn't leave without finding his stupid boa. He started to rummage faster.  
I don't think it's in here, he thought. But I've gotta find it. I can't get a specific request from Ghoul wrong.  
Poison started to search through his other boxes of clothes- shirts- pants- more shirts- and one box filled to the brim with hair ties and cool-looking rocks and old polaroids and other junk. At first he's calmly looking for the boa in the other assorted boxes but at that point the muffled chatter from the lobby is starting to get uncomfortably loud and Poison is starting to get anxious, so the searching becomes more frantic.  
Oh god, someone's pretty much yelling out there. Whose voice is that? That isn't Ghoul's, is it?  
It was.  
Poison can't take it anymore. He sprinted out the door, with empty hands. When he reached the lobby, he received only a snippet of the conversation.   
"...and you knew what you were doing when you left him alone!" Ghoul exclaimed. Poison was facing his back, but he could still see his hands were balled into fists.   
Kobra was standing by the door, holding a small, clear bag filled with spare parts. That must've been what he was out getting. "Ghoul, I'm so fucking sorry, it completely slipped my mind, I shouldn't have-"   
"Yeah, clearly!" Ghoul growled.  
"Ghoul, stop, it was an accident" Jet pleaded.   
Ghoul swiped his hand away. "Jet, you fuckin' saw how Poison was acting when we got back. Kobe is Pois's brother, he of all people should know not to leave Poison alone."  
"Ghoul!!"  
Poison's voice shattered the anger in the air like glass. Ghoul spun around, his eyes wild. "Poison!"  
"What the fuck are you doing!" Poison exclaimed.  
Ghoul didn't have time to respond.  
Poison groaned. He spun around on one leg and stormed off.  
***  
"Poison, I-"   
"Hold on, shut up for a second." Poison was pacing in his room, not daring to look in Ghoul's eyes. He had his hands to his head.   
"Poison, I'm sorry-"  
"Ok, but seriously, walk me through just exactly what you were thinking, doing what you just did," Poison muttered. "Did you actually think yelling at my brother would make me feel any better?"  
"No, I didn't think that, I just- UGH," Ghoul groaned. "I was just-"   
"You got mad," Poison finished for him.   
"Yeah, pretty much," Ghoul murmured.   
"Just- what has gotten into you? I can't understand it."   
"I…." Ghoul faltered. It looked like he was trying to force the words in his mouth back down his throat. "Don't know if I can really explain it to you."  
"You don't have to," Poison replied. "Just leave."   
Poison stared at a wall, unmoving. He heard the door creak open.   
Poison swallowed. "Don't yell at my brother again."  
"I'm sorry."  
Poison hadn't turned to look at Ghoul, but the sound of the door closing and footsteps outside told him that he was gone.   
What had gotten into him? Jet was right, he was acting pretty weird. Poison crashed on his bed, his hands resting below the back of his head. His eyes fluttered closed, though he wasn't even close to being able to go to sleep. This was just what he tended to do when thinking.   
It was also weird how Ghoul didn't acknowledge last night's events at all. Had he not remembered? Did he want to forget?   
Poison turned over onto his side. Just trying to get comfortable. It wasn't working.  
"Ey," came a voice from outside his door. It wasn't Ghoul. Poison could tell because the voice was coming from higher than like, 3 feet off the ground (Poison didn't know Ghoul's actual height but that's what it felt like). He craned his neck in the direction of the door. "Come in!"  
The door creaked open and in walked Kobra. "Hey," he greeted, in kind of a low voice.   
Poison's concerned older sibling reflexes kicked in. "Hey, you okay?"   
"Yeah, I'm good," Kobra answered. "I should really be asking that about you."   
"Nononono, I'm okay, I'm okay!" Poison assured. "I was mad at you for like two seconds, it's fine."   
"Ugh, I'm.. really sorry, I'm an idiot.."  
Poison's hands were in fists. "No!" He yelled. "You're seriously fine, for real. People are allowed to make mistakes."   
"Not when those mistakes fuck up my brother for a whole hour!"   
Poison bit his tongue. There was a tiny voice in his brain that kept saying to be mad at him, but Poison didn't even have the mental capability to be mad at his baby brother, at least not for more than a millisecond.   
"Listen," Kobra's older brother mused. "What matters is that I'm okay now. And that you're okay as well. You are ok right?"  
"Yep. And you?"   
"Yeah, now that I've got you here to talk to." Poison smiled sadly.   
"What about Jet and Ghoul?"  
Poison frowned. "Ghoul is dead to me."  
"Not really though?"  
"Yeah, not really." Poison's lips parted, baring his teeth. You could see the embarrassment in his face.   
"Oh, how's, uh.. that been going, by the way?" Kobra questioned.   
Poison's face morphed into one more somber, and a host of microexpressions that revealed more to Kobra than words could ever say. "It's.. alright, I guess," he lied through his teeth.   
"Oh, you're pining hard."  
Poison tensed up and threw his body onto the mattress. He groaned. "UGHHH, why are you so good at psychoanalyzing my every word! It makes it extremely hard to hide my true feelingssssss!!!"  
Kobra smirked. "I'm contrite, P. Sorry you're so easy to read."  
"I figured if I was that easy, Ghoul woulda figured my shit out for me by now," Poison replied, talking into his sheets.   
"Ghoul is.. not very good at that kind of thing. For lack of a better word.. he's not smart."  
"He's a fuckin' dumbass," Poison lamented. "Oh, god, but he's my dumbass!" The older killjoy slammed his fist down on the mattress angrily.   
"Pfft. You're adorable," Kobra gushed. "You've turned redder than shepherd's delight."  
"Have I now?"   
"Mmhm," Kobra replied, playfully pinching his brother's cheek.   
"Fuck off," Poison said, flipping his brother off to hide the fact that he was smiling.   
"So," Kobra stated. "You think you're gonna.. tell him? At the party?"  
Poison held his inner lip in between his teeth. He wasn't sure what the answer to that question was, to be honest.  
"..Yeah," he finally answered.   
Kobra's eyes gleamed with interest. "Really?"  
"Hey, don't push your luck. There's still like a.. 75% chance I'm gonna end up backing out and crying my eyes out in the bathroom until it's time to leave."  
"Well, maybe we can make those odds better."  
"Yeah, maybe we can crank it up to a 99%," Poison muttered.  
Kobra shrugged. "Try not to be an idiot around him."  
"I'm an idiot around everyone, all the time. Maybe we should lower that bar?"   
"..Be nice to Ghoul, I suppose." Kobra seemed focused on his lap. "I dunno if you made the connection, but this is all kinda about.. you."  
"Is it now," Poison said under his breath.   
Poison and Kobra chatted for a little while after that- at first about possible methods, then just about normal stuff. Kobra told Poison about a wacky bug he saw on the way to Tommy's shop. Soon the sun was starting to sink below the horizon. The day had been gone in a flash. Wow, we really spent the day doing a whole lotta nothin'.   
Ghoul was missing, again.   
Jesus, where did that little rat skitter off to this time?   
Poison assumed he was working again or something and went back to his business. He didn't really like that he hadn't done much today, so he would have to do a lot tomorrow. That wouldn't be hard to accomplish, probably.   
Party Poison stepped outside, a cigarette in one hand, his other resting on his hip, just in time for the sun to disappear under the horizon line. He was about to go down the stairs before the porch to go sit on the gravel, when..  
"Aah!"  
Poison nearly tripped on a strange rectangular object and almost fell down the stairs onto the pavement. That wouldn't have gone well if he hadn't caught himself mid-fall. What was this thing?   
A box? A cardboard box. With a neon green string tying it together.  
Oh. Wow. I wonder whose this could possibly be.   
There was also a card attached to the string. In an envelope.   
To P.P., it said on the outside.   
God, I hate it when people use my initials like that, Poison thought. But it was Ghoul, so if he minded, it wasn't that much of a matter.   
Poison's eyes scanned the page. 

first of all, dont get on my case if this is written badly  
second of all im sorry   
i got you pretty mad earlier when i yelled at your brother and i thought i was doing the right thing but i wasnt, and it was stupid of me. im sorry  
so uh, i got you this because i dont know how to actually confront you about it, and dont worry, kobe is obviously getting some of his own as well  
i asked tommy if he had any in stock and he actually said yes which, HOLY SHIT, WHAT A SCORE RIGHT?? because he like never has shit like this in the shop so how fucking lucky is it that he happened to have it this time right?  
anyways it cost like a milllion zillion BAJILLION carbons and since i dont really have that kind of money atm tommys gonna have me working like a fuckin dog to pay it off  
so i hope you really really really enjoy this  
though youre probably not gonna get a good chance to thank me until at least tomorrow  
hope you accept it   
-fun ghoul : )

Poison's eyebrows raised curiously. He delicately pulled off the green string and pulled open the box.   
Holy.. shit.   
Poison couldn't fucking believe his eyes. This was.. actual fudge. No wonder Ghoul was so adamant about the fact that Tommy would be working him a lot- it really did cost a fortune. Poison's stomach turned with a mixture of guilt and intense hunger. He clutched the cardboard box like it was his newborn baby. It smelled so fucking good.   
He was totally gonna gorge on this shit.  
Wait. No. He should save this. Ghoul spent a lot of money on it and he shouldn't just eat it all at once like that. That's wasteful.   
Ugh, but…. TASTY…….  
Poison's brain spun a myriad of conflicting thoughts while he stumbled back inside. Crashing on the couch, cardboard box still clutched tightly in his arms, he looked at his brother (who seemingly hadn't moved) with wide eyes.   
"Kobe, holy shit. You're not gonna believe this. Ghoul-"  
"Got you a box of fudge? Yeah, I got one too. It was out back."  
"I- oh," Poison replied. Huh. "Wait, did he tell you-"  
"Oh, I already knew about the talk you guys had last night." Kobra smirked. "Thin walls, P. Though it was cute getting to listen to you guys ramble. And it was extra cute when you fell asleep together. Cuties, the lot of you."  
"Hey, quit eavesdropping, you weirdo!!" Poison shoved his brother playfully into the arm of the couch. "But.. to be true, it wouldn't be the first time we, uh… did that."  
"Oh?" Kobra looked very interested.   
"Yeah, uh…. The day you found us on the roof? Yeah, earlier during the night he let me fall asleep on his lap.   
Kobra looked like there were literal, actual tears in his eyes.   
"Oh my fucking god, don't do that," Poison groaned. "It's embarrassing."  
"You two are… so cute," Kobra gushed.   
"Ughhhh, you're gross," Poison griped. "Where is Ghoul, anyway? I need to thank him and give him the biggest hug ever."  
"Oh, I think he went back to work, actually. Probably has something to do with the fact that he just blew a ton of money on his future boyf-"   
"Shut up," Poison interrupted. "I've gotta go."  
"But didn't you want to eat the fudge?"   
"I'll take a piece with me. I'm gonna go shower Ghoul with love and appreciation. Because he deserves it."   
"You… do that. Bring me back something from Tommy's?"  
"Sure, if I remember." Poison took a piece of fudge from the box and dashed outside.   
As he ran, he took a bite of the piece of fudge he had taken.  
It was.. divine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!! This one took SOOO LONG TO WRITE oh my god. Totally worth it though, because it's probably my favorite chapter so far!   
> So this has been the longest chapter yet, but. Don't get used to it! Most of the chapters are still gonna be around 3000-4000 words in length, maybe a little longer if I'm really feeling it, but yeah, that's gonna be most chapters up until the climax. See you next saturday!! :Dc


	10. Til the Sky Turns Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghoul stays up all night.  
> Poison stays up all night.  
> Ghoul sleeps.   
> Poison sleeps.

Chapter 10- 'Til the Sky Turns Black  
Party Poison didn’t even bother getting in the trans am, which turned out to be a huge mistake on his part.  
Poison always forgot that Tommy’s shop was actually kind of far away, because he had no sense of direction without the help of his crew, which was why it was unfortunate that he ended up running all the way there instead of driving. He tripped over rocks and his own feet like three times, but each time he’d get back up and just keep running, fueled entirely by adrenaline and hyped up on his own ADHD. Finally, praise the witch, the site, clearly labelled The Infestation, appeared ahead. Poison finally stopped to catch his breath, his heart pounding out of his chest then walked the rest of the way there.   
By the time he got all the way to The Infestation, it was almost completely dark.  
When Poison walked in and the bell rung, he could see his dark hair lowered over the counter. Ghoul's eyes must've gotten distracted by the red in his vision, because he noticed Poison immediately.   
"Hey, Pois," he said lowly.   
"Hi," Poison replied. "Running the register, eh? Tommy's really working the piss outta ya."  
"Yeah, I dunno how he thought putting me here would make anyone happy, but I'm gonna try not to slip up, since I obviously kinda need this money."  
The air got awkward fast.   
Ghoul sighed. "I dunno if I'm allowed to really talk to customers."   
"Who said I was a customer?" Poison slyly replied. "Just here to say thanks. For the.. the thing you gave me. It was very tasty."  
"Well I hope it's the best damn fudge you've had in your entire life, because it costed a shit tonna money," Ghoul mumbled. "And don't expect me to do things for you like that all the time."   
"When do you get out of here?" Poison asked.  
"Whenever Tommy lets me, I guess," Ghoul supposed. "He's out cold in the breakroom and I'm too afraid to wake him up. I guess I just have to wait until he wakes up and tells me I can go."  
"That's bullshit!" Poison exclaimed, a little louder than what Ghoul was evidently comfortable with.   
"Shhh!" Ghoul hissed.   
"Ahh, sorry!"  
Ghoul sighed. "Anyways.. yeah, I'll definitely be here all night, maybe longer. It sucks and I hate it."  
"I can only imagine," Poison mused. He had slumped over the counter, now talking directly to Ghoul instead of just responding back and forth with Poison looking away.  
Ghoul frowned. "Hey, I don't think you can stay," he pointed out, gesturing to the (multiple) anti-loitering signs.  
"God, you're starting to sound like Tommy," Poison grumbled.   
"I just really need to pay this stupid shit off. Can't really afford to fuck anything up, heh. Tommy's picky."  
Poison shuffled his feet. "You didn't need to do that for me, y'know."  
"Yeah, don't make me regret it," Ghoul mumbled. "I like doing nice things for you."  
Oh my god.  
"Anyways… you should, uh, probably get going. Unless you want to buy something," Ghoul proclaimed.  
"Can I buy you and take you back to the motel so you can get a good night's sleep?"   
Ghoul laughed loudly. "Hahaha! Nah, bro, not tonight unfortunately. Gotta stay here and.. bring home the cash." He tried to add some pep into the last bit, but he was clearly too tired to be even a little enthusiastic.  
Poison nodded, but Ghoul could tell he was concerned.  
"Hey, it'll be ok," Ghoul assured. "I'll steal a ton of Tommy's coffee and five hour energy and be able to stay up. And I'll blast black metal in my headphones. It'll be easy peasy. And then I'll get back and take a big ol' nap."  
Poison nodded again, still seeming unsure but the small grin on his face told Ghoul that, deep down, he knew it was gonna be ok. "Try not to die, okay?" he said in a low voice.  
"I'll try."  
Poison nodded. "See you later."   
"See ya."  
Poison walked out of the store having learned nothing but having a strong prediction that this night was going to be spent mostly wishing and waiting for Ghoul to come home. He also knew it would be a little weird sleeping alone that night, which would come as no surprise seeing as sleeping was usually hard for him anyway.   
I don't think you can stay.   
Poison squinted in the darkness, stumbling his way home through the inky black, based on a thin idea of where he came from. Crossing his fingers, praying to the witch that he wouldn't get slain by coyotes or dracs in the dead of night.   
Nothing happened, which was weird. Usually dracs would be prowling by the time the sun goes down. Still, though, Poison's hand stayed at his hip the whole walk, just in case something went Costa Rica all of a sudden.   
But nothing happened. And after what felt like hours of walking around aimlessly, the flickering lights in the motel came into view.   
Poison booked it towards the light, stopping at the porch and gently pushing open the screen door.   
Kobra was sitting on the couch, legs crossed and propped up on the table, peacefully reading a magazine. "You're back," he remarked, without looking up.   
"Yeah," Poison huffed. "Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?"   
"Felt like it."   
"Ok," Poison replied. He sat down next to his brother.   
"How'd it go with Ghoul?" Kobra asked nonchalantly.  
"I dunno. It's hard to tell. I don't think I fucked it up, but he seemed… dismissive."  
"Well, what he did for you was a huge gesture. When did he say he was gonna get back?"  
"Whenever Tommy lets him go, I suppose." Poison answered.   
"Which will be.. when?"  
"Probably not til tomorrow morning."   
"Ughhh," Kobra groaned. "That means I have to leave you alone with Jet."  
Poison squinted. "Wait, what?"  
"I need to go out and get some stuff. Not in Tommy's shop, probably closer to the border of zone 2. I was hoping Ghoul would be back soon, so you'd be less alone, but I guess you're just gonna have to be here with just Jet for a while."  
Poison sighed. "Ok, I'll probably be fine. Where is Jet, anyway?"  
"Out back. Not sure what he's up to, though."  
"Okay, I'll go see him then."  
Party Poison went around to the other porch, in the back of the motel. Jet was there, as Kobra has said. He didn't seem to be doing anything in particular, just staring into space.  
"Hey, Jet!"  
Jet turned, his round, blue eyes turning up. "Oh, hey Pois."  
"Kobra's leaving."  
"That's cool. You gonna go kiss him goodbye?" Jet joked.   
Poison squinted, then raised his eyebrows. "You joke but I'm gonna go do that."  
As soon as Poison turned around to go do that, the engine of the trans am revved from the other side of the motel.   
"Heh. Looks like you're too late."   
"Awwwww," Poison groaned. "Well, I guess I'll get to talk to him later. Ghoul, too."  
Jet smiled. "So Ghoul's workin' all night, eh?"   
"Oh, how'd you know?"  
"Lucky guess, I suppose. Plus I read his little note. It was super cute." The curly haired killjoy hit Poison with a grin. "So how are you feeling about all that?"  
"Eheheh.. what?"   
Jet raised his eyebrows. "I mean, you're kind of conjoined at the hip. You're gonna be missing him all night, arentcha?" He giggled. "Yknow, I really should've guessed you had a crush on him."  
Poison turned beet red. "He told you?"  
"Come on, you know Kobe can't keep a secret to save his life."   
Poison covered his face with his hands. "How long have you known?"   
"Ever since Kobe knew, I think. I'm pretty sure he saw you do something piney and then automatically ran to me all like 'Jet you're never gonna believe this'. So, it's probably been a good.. 3 or 4 years."  
Holy SHIT. "You've known for 4 years?!"   
"Or 3!" Jet objected. "I can't really remember.   
"Oh my god.. have you told the others?"  
"By the others, I assume you mean Cherri, Pony and Dr D? I mean, D probably knows, he knows, like, everything about everyone. I dunno about the others, though."  
"Ughhhh… I don't like this." Poison's stomach felt sick.   
"No offense, but it's kinda obvious. The only reason Ghoul doesn't know is because he's… not bright."  
"Hey!"   
Jet giggled. "Ok, maybe not a good way to say it."  
"Yeah. Maybe rephrase."  
"No."  
"Rephrase it, Jet, or I'll crush you like a bug."   
Jet sighed loudly. "He… ain't the sharpest tool in the shed."  
Poison bit his lip to keep himself from saying The Thing.  
"Look, I know you're thinking it, just spit it out."   
"SHE WAS LOOKING KIND OF DUMB WITH HER FINGER AND HER THUMB IN THE SHAPE OF AN L ON HER FOREHEAD," Poison yelled into the night, and even the cicadas briefly got quiet in surprise.   
"Glad you don't have to bottle that up," Jet sighed.  
"It's your fault for saying the thing in the first place. You should've expected this."   
"Heh. I actually didn't realize what I was saying until halfway through the sentence, so you can sue me, I guess." Jet giggled, running a hand through his curly hair.   
"Somewhere in the zones there are probably a few drunk idiots who heard me and are now singing the rest of the lyrics together."   
"You are definitely right." Jet giggled. "Anyways… you think you'll be able to sleep tonight?"  
"Nope! I've accepted that."   
"Really? You're gonna stay up?"  
"I mean, yeah. What else would I do if I can't sleep?"   
"Well, I dunno," Jet replied. "Knowing you, you can probably find some kinda limbo in between. So what do you plan on doing during your not-sleep?"  
"Probably space out and try to astral project into Tommy's shop."   
Jet squinted, smirking. "You're so weird."  
"I know."   
Jet plays with his hair some more. "Can't you just go see him? I mean, he'll be on duty, but it's not like he'll be all that busy. Tommy's shop is never bustling during night hours, not with all the dracs n' shit prowling around."   
"Ghoul specifically told me that he didn't think I could stay. Not sure why. Tommy's rules, I guess."   
"Huh."   
The cicadas buzzed. The night was quiet, and the stars stared down at the two killjoys, like they were waiting for someone to say something.   
"I missed you, Pois," Jet mumbled.   
"I know."   
"Ghoul did too."   
"I know."   
"A lot."  
Poison bit his lip. "I guess you'd know."  
"Yeah, same with Kobra, except he won't tell me anything. For Ghoul's privacy, I guess."   
"Really?"   
"Yeah."  
"Well, that's probably the right choice," Jet supposed. "If I were Ghoul, y'know. I wouldn't really want to have that going on backstage either."   
"No, yeah, I get that. It's fine."   
Fuck, Poison really wanted to know.   
He knew that made him a bad person. Well, it would've been worse if he were going to act on it, but no, he respected Ghoul at least that much. But.. secrets. Poison hated other people keeping secrets almost as much as he loved keeping his own secrets.   
"I'm getting bitten up," Jet commented, flicking a mosquito off his left arm. "I think I'm gonna head back inside."   
"Yeah, I might come with. I need to get some sleep."  
Jet gave Poison a weird look.   
"Oh right, yeah, I don't have to lie to you. I'm gonna go… not sleep, I guess."  
Jet sighed. "Alright, you do that."  
Poison trudged inside, scratching his bug bites, wishing that the motel porch wasn't always a breeding ground for insects. The door to his bedroom slammed. He stripped down and pulled an oversized band shirt over his binder.   
Finally, he switched the dim, flickering yellow ceiling light off so it was all dark, and flopped onto the bed.   
The night seemed to get blacker every time Poison blinked. Soon he didn't need to shut his eyes to see complete darkness.   
Poison couldn't help but imagine Ghoul was there. If he was there right now, he'd probably say something like 'Take off your binder, dumbass, just because you're not going to sleep doesn't mean that you're not gonna die due to broken bones from being in your binder for ten plus hours.'  
Pfft, what does he know, Poison thought as he took off his binder. What? It was still good advice.   
"I'll follow your advice, imaginary figment of Fun Ghoul, but that doesn't mean I'll enjoy it," he said, out loud. Low-key hoping nobody heard.  
Poison threw the silk-white binder into a corner of the room. It hit a wall and sunk to the floor. His oversized shirt went back on.   
Poison put his headphones in, hoping to distract himself with some tunes or an interesting podcast. Hmm…   
Poison switched from track to track. No matter what he put on, he didn't feel better. That was alright though, when did he ever?   
Poison's mind quickly drifted elsewhere.  
He did love Ghoul. That much was true. But it felt weird to say. Like, this person you've spent most of your waking life living with and depending on? Yeah, they're also cute!  
Really, really cute.   
Poison hugged his pillow. This is how he would stay for most of the night.  
***  
Party Poison was mortified when, at 5:30 in the morning, he heard birds chirping.   
The night had gone by in a blur. It was like it didn't even happen. Of course, just as expected, he hadn't slept. He wasn't even tired. But when sunshine crept through his blinds, he knew there wasn't going to be any sleep for him anyway.  
Dr D's transmission would come in soon. Poison considered driving to Tommy's shop to pick up Ghoul. That consideration quickly became a decision.  
Would he bug Jet to drive him there…? No, because he deserved a full night's sleep. Though Poison wasn't tired, he didn't fully trust himself at the wheel on zero hours of sleep.   
So what was the verdict? What will our hero Party Poison do next?   
Well, he ended up walking.   
That's right. He walked. What an idiot, right?  
Well, before that obviously he needed to get ready to walk that far. Slipping on a black and red baseball tee and a crop leather jacket (he'd claim he wasn't dressing up for Ghoul, but don't believe him) and the same heeled boots he wore literally every day, pretty soon he was ready to head out.   
And oh god the sun's out. Poison is going to die of heat stroke before it's even midday.   
All it takes is a short walk.   
Poison started walking. Surprisingly it wasn't terrible. It was a little warm but nothing an aged killjoy couldn't handle.  
Tommy's shop turned up, in the form of a dot on the horizon. Poison would, of course, follow the dot until it became the silhouette of the store.   
During Poison's walk towards it, the lights flickered on. Someone walked out. Poison couldn't tell who it was, but it wasn't Ghoul, because they looked taller than 4 feet. They sat down on the ground outside.  
"Excuse me," Poison said when got to that point. "I'm looking for my friend, he worked here all night and I came to bring him back?"  
The person sitting outside took out a cigarette and took an especially long drag from it while Poison awkwardly shifted his weight from side to side, waiting for an answer. They had especially greasy looking hair, white with blue tips, and it was all in their face so Poison couldn't even see their eyes.   
They took the cigarette out of their mouth, blowing the smoke out. "Ahhh."  
Finally. "So, do you know where my friend is?" Poison asked hopefully.  
"Nope."  
The white-haired killjoy got up and started walking down the getaway mile, one hand in their pocket, the other holding the cigarette in two fingers.   
"..Okay! Thanks anyway!"  
The other killjoy didn't respond, unless spitting on the asphalt and putting the cigarette back in their mouth was somehow supposed to be a response.   
Well that was a waste of time.   
The door swung open. Tommy stood at the register.   
"I already told you, we don't have Addams Family Values available in the goddamn movie section," he groaned. His neck craned over to see who was at the door. "Oh, it's just you."   
"Yeah, hi." Poison waved. "What was that about?" he asked, though he didn't really care.  
"Just some edgelord kid asking for a movie we don't have," Tommy replied, dead-eyed. "Anyways, I bet you're looking for Ghoul, right?"  
"How'd you know," Poison replied.   
"Lucky guess. He's in the back room trying not to black the fuck out."  
Did Tommy just swear? Must've been a rough night.  
"..Alright. Thanks."  
"Pleasure."  
Poison ran into the back. Sure enough, Ghoul was there. His green eyes were red, rheumy and glazed as he stared into space. His face was pallid. He looked like a fucking corpse, either that or a goth who didn't know how to be goth.   
"Holy shit," Poison whispered.   
"Oh fuck, Poison," Ghoul croaked.   
"Hey!" Poison replied. "You.. ok?"  
"Does it fucking look like it?"   
"Not even a little bit," Poison answered honestly.   
"I'm so fucking high," Ghoul muttered.   
"Yeah, I can tell. You ready to go home?"  
"God yes," Ghoul sighed. "I'm totally gonna sleep in the car on the way back and you can't fucking stop me."  
"Oh, I…" Poison pulled at his collar, preparing to bear the unfortunate truth. "I walked here."  
Ghoul stared in disbelief. "You're a fucking idiot."  
"Yeah… I know."  
Ghoul sighed. His eyes were puffy, presumably from a horrific combination of sleep loss, marijuana, and maybe crying. "Well, I'm going to walk back. Feel free to join me."  
"Why did you think I came here?"   
Ghoul didn't answer. They started walking out. Ghoul flipped Tommy off under the counter, which made Poison giggle.   
"Thanks for the fudge," Poison muttered. "It was really good."  
"Don't mention it," Ghoul replied. "It's all paid off now."  
"Wow, all in one night? That's impressive."  
Ghoul nodded. "Only a few customers in the whole night. He basically paid me to stand there and pretend to not be holding a joint right under the counter."  
"You really need to get some sleep."  
"Yeah, I fucking know."  
Ghoul was stumbling, faltering. He was so tired he could barely walk, but he was making it. Poison was tempted to hold his hand, put it over his shoulder, anything to keep him from collapsing right into the sand, but..   
***  
So basically, Ghoul crashed on the couch and passed the fuck out as soon as the two boys walked in.   
As soon as Poison knew Ghoul was safe at home, he was pretty tired too. Which he didn't expect, considering he hadn't been tired before- he was just so relieved.  
Kobra peered his head into the lobby. "Oh good, you guys are back."  
Poison nodded. "I think Ghoul died."   
"Huh." Kobra poked at the black-haired killjoy. "Seems p dead to me."  
Poison sighed. Yep, he was definitely going to sleep after this.   
"You want something to drink? Jet found some weird teabags in a pile of garbage and we're gonna test them out."  
"That sounds like an easy way to die, so I'll pass," Poison answered, gesturing dismissively. "I'm going to sleep, wake me up if I need to call poison control."  
"Oh, so now you're going to sleep as soon as Ghoul is home?"  
"Yep. Goodbye!"  
Poison was out cold almost as fast as Ghoul. In kind of an awkward position, too- legs all sprawled out and shit. It looked uncomfortable, but Poison slept like a baby, probably because he was one.   
He dreamed of a void of black, which would probably count as not dreaming, but Poison was- at least somewhat conscious of his body. It was like a lucid dream where even though he could see and hear and feel consciously, he still didn't have all that many options for what to do.   
It was warm- dark, but warm, like bathing in the Witch's black cloak, made of the feathers of damned ones. These were the kind of dreams that Poison appreciated but also despised, because however boring they may be, they were better than the alternatives.


	11. Pretty Face but Pretty Bad Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poison is awake. Ghoul isn't.   
> The gang visits the witch's garden.

Chapter 11- Pretty Face but Pretty Bad Dreams  
Oh my god, I slept for so long.  
This is what Poison was thinking as he woke up in his twin bed, his hair an absolute fucking mess.  
God dammit.   
It was still dark out, but hey, it wasn't like Poison planned on getting even more sleep, right?   
The red-haired killjoy appeared in the hallway as soon as he finished pulling on a pair of denims and a black and red striped top, making sure the straps were aligned with what was underneath.   
Kobra was sitting on the floor next to the couch, his face covered in stickers, drinking what seemed to be refried beans out of a coffee mug. Gross.   
Jet was on the couch sipping a neptune pop, which was a really shitty soda, but compared to whatever Kobra was doing, it was normal.   
"Hey, Pois," Jet mused.   
"Hey," Poison replied, blinking drowsily.   
"Aw, you look sleepy," Kobra remarked through a mouthful of beans.  
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Poison replied. "It's gross."   
Kobra swallowed. "Sorry, bro."  
"No problem. I'm going to lie on top of you now."  
"Go for it."  
Poison lowered his back onto Kobra's lap, legs folded, head resting on the floor. Kobra patted his head, and Poison would have protested but he was too busy being cute.   
"Do you know how long I slept?" Poison muttered.   
"Uhh.." Kobra turned to Jet, who, despite being born in the zones, was justly better than math than both of the alliteration brothers combined.   
"Hmm.. upmost of like, 18, 19 hours?"  
"Holy shit," Poison breathed. "That makes up for like, all of the sleep I lost when I was gone. Well, not really, but the important thing is that I got sleep."   
"Congrats," Jet replied.   
"Wait, is Ghoul still asleep?"   
"Yes!" Kobra exclaimed. "Jet and I are making bets as to when he'll wake up."  
Poison nodded. "Oh yeah, how was yesterday? Since most of the day was spent, uh.. as a duo."  
“Yeah, we were fine,” Jet claimed. “Got in a little scuffle with some waveheads while we were rooting through garbage for cool shit, but since they can barely move without being in immense pain due to the whole intense sunburn thing, we were pretty much fine.”  
“I tried to give one of them water- it was just so hard to look at them, all covered in sores and shit.”  
“You can’t pity those guys, Kobe, they don’t want it,” Jet mused.   
“Aw man, you guys went rooting without me and Ghoul? He loves doing that,” Poison lamented.   
Jet raised his eyebrows. “That’s what Kobra said, but then again, however much Ghoul might love rooting, he does not love being woken up. By anyone.”  
The red-haired killjoy nodded. “Fair point. That can also be said about me.”   
Kobra giggled.  
“Speaking of which…..” Poison frowned, gesturing towards the section of the hallway where Ghoul’s room was. “Worst comes to worst, when do we plan on…”  
“What, waking him up? Hmm.” Jet’s hand moved from the couch to his chin as he squinted in thought. “If he’s really not gonna wake up on his own anytime soon.. I’d say before noon. I’m not spending another entire day just the t.. Well, three of us now, but still.”  
Poison nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s probably fair. Let him sleep, but like, there’s gotta be a point where we’re like ‘wake up bitch!’”  
Kobra snickered. Jet just smiled.   
“Oh! I almost forgot!” Kobra slung off his backpack and started rummaging through one of the many pockets. “I.. found you something in a pile of garbage!”  
Poison stared at the backpack. “Wow! Is it garbage?”   
“Yes! But it’s good garbage!"   
Seems Kobra's hand reached the right pocket. He pulled it out, and two fingers he held a silver chain with a guitar pick on the end.   
"Woah." Poison's eyes glimmered behind his mask. "Is it real silver?"  
"Hell no!" Kobra exclaimed. "If it were we would've sold it to Tommy by now. It's just painted silver, but isn't it cool? Plus if we find other beads we can put those on it and stuff."  
"I love it. Thank you," Poison whispered, mesmerized by the way the chain twirled when he twisted it with his finger.  
"You're so low-maintenance," Kobra said, patting his brother's head. "Which is fortunate because we can't really afford anything better."  
Poison nodded. "I could literally play with this thing for hours and never get bored."  
"Well, we don't have time for that," Jet sighed. "Today's gonna be busy. Well, not that busy. We have to do like one thing. Hope you're up for that."  
"You're calling the shots? Since when?"  
"Since you slept for nearly 20 hours. Let's get in the car. You awake enough to drive, or should I?"  
Poison took a second to think. "I mean, I can probably drive, but first I'll need to know where we're headed."  
"Just to the witch's garden to pick up some supplies we're lacking in. Maybe go rooting around the area while we're at it. Plus Kobra wants to look for weird bugs."  
"I do!" Kobra agreed.  
"Alright, sounds good," Poison agreed. "Are we sure we're gonna leave him alone until we're back?"   
"I mean, yeah, sure." Jet supposed. "What could go wrong?"  
"I can think of several things that could go wrong, but I trust your judgement more than my own. Let's go," Poison decided.   
So they did. The three killjoys piled into the trans am, one by one. Poison in the driver's seat, Jet in the shotgun, Kobra in the back. Poison had been situated with a well-deserved can of napalm nectar, bubbling with sugar and caffeine, so he was all juiced up and ready to drive off to zone 3 where the witch's garden stood.   
On the way there, Jet told a story from the day before and Kobra munched on a bit of the fudge Ghoul had given him. Poison couldn't even understand how he was so eagerly eating it, because Poison for one wanted to save it for as long as possible. He saw what Ghoul had done to get his hands on it, and to spend all that time on something that wasn't even for himself? Absolutely uncomprehendable.  
Poison hoped he was having a good rest. He deserved it.   
"Note to self," Kobra said to himself. "Don't eat fudge right after eating beans. Yuck!"  
"Yeah, ick," Poison replied, wrinkling his nose.   
"I won't lie though, this shit's tasty as fuck. Good on Ghoul for snagging it," Kobra replied, licking the crumbs off his fingers.   
Poison nodded. "Despite the sacrifice."   
"Mhm."  
Jet leaned forward. "Right up ahead, Pois."  
Sure enough, Jet was right. Up ahead was a sign with a crude painting of the phoenix witch and a white arrow on it.   
"I wonder what the witch thinks of that.. depiction," Kobra inquired.   
"Good question. Maybe bring that up with the witch herself," Poison replied.   
As the trans am continued along the getaway mile, the witch's garden came into view. A quaint little patch of earth where plants grew miraculously. That's what made it the witch's garden- only her domain could ever support such vibrant plant life, after all.   
Tradition in the garden was that one would only pick their share, so long as a sacrifice was made. Whether it be rations, supplies or something else, it had to be left for the spiritual exchange to be considered valid. Or, at least, that's what believers in the witch did.   
As soon as Poison stepped out, his boots sunk into the soil. He and the other killjoys treaded carefully through the garden (you had to be careful not to step on any of the plants there. Some considered it bad luck or a curse, but it was more like just a waste of resources).   
"You have a sacrifice, right?" Jet asked, bent over some aloe vera plants.   
"Uhh.." Kobra felt around in his pockets. "Will matches do?"   
Jet crossed his arms. "Probably not, also definitely not a good thing to have in a garden. Anything else?"  
"Uhh.." Kobra thought for a moment. "A good luck sticker, maybe?"  
"You've sacrificed good luck stickers like seven times, Kobe, I don't think she'd want any more."  
Poison remembered the fudge. It was still inside Kobra's backpack. He silently pleaded that Kobra wouldn't consider it for the sacrifice. Ghoul's hard work better not go to waste like that.  
"Here, I'll just give her one of my wristbands."   
Jet nodded. "There we go."  
Poison exhaled, relieved, as Kobra slid one of the bands off his arm and tossed it into the dirt, patting it in a little with the bottom of his boot.   
"Alright, with that over with--" Jet got back down on his knees and continued gathering plants.   
Poison didn't know shit about plants. Jet did, and Kobra didn't know much but he knew more than his brother, so Pois mostly spent the whole time checking with Jet before picking any plant.  
"Do we need any of, uhh.." Kobra examined the flowering plant below him. "..of this?"   
Jet craned his neck over to see. "Oh, that? That's… chamomile. I don't think so, but if you think it might be helpful, I suppose you can take a couple flowers. They're good for sleep and relaxation and stuff if you make tea with it."  
Kobra nodded. He exchanged a glance with Poison, who nodded, knowing what his brother intended, and Kobra clipped off several of the small daisy-looking blossoms and dropped them into his pockets.  
Poison's gaze returned to a stalk-looking plant. "And how about, uhh... this? Do we need any of this??"   
"Hmm." Jet scratched his chin. "That is.. a weed, Poison. We definitely don't need it. But get rid of it since it's there, it's stealing nutrients from the other plants.   
Poison nodded, uprooting the weed. "I'm gonna eat it."   
Jet shook his head. "Do not do that."  
Poison's eyebrows raised. Naturally it only made him want to do it more. He moved the plant towards his mouth.   
"Don't."  
The weed moved closer to Poison's lips, and he opened his mouth an inch.   
"Don't you fucking dare," Jet warned.   
"Don't do it, Pois," Kobra agreed.   
Poison dropped the weed begrudgingly. "Ughhh you guys are no fun," he groaned.   
"Well, sorry you won't be getting super ill today." Jet shrugged.   
"Did we get everything we'll need?" Poison asked.   
"Yeah, we're probably good," Jet answered. "Besides, we're probably reaching the quota for one sacrifice. And if my suspicions are correct, we're quickly running out of things to sacrifice, so I guess we should get going."  
"Sounds about right- should we root around here before we go back?" Poison asked.   
"Yeah, sure," Kobra agreed.   
Jet squinted up at the sun, approximating its location in the sky to see what time it was. It wasn't quite at its peak in the sky. "Yeah, we've got time," he decided.   
***  
Obviously there was trash scattered everywhere in the zones, but it seemed like there were just designated places where people would leave their garbage- not cans, just, piles of stuff in the middle of the desert where anyone could leave or take something, so one killjoy's trash could become another killjoy's treasure.   
Poison was waist-deep in one such pile of trash, hands separating the trash from the potential treasure. So far he had found a packet of sunflower seeds, a mechanical pencil with a bit of lead still in it, and a flashlight with no batteries (that didn't matter though, they had batteries at home).   
"Oh sweet!" Kobra exclaimed, peeling another good luck sticker off of an old tire.   
"Jesus," Jet remarked. "Those things are indefinite."  
“Yeah, I don’t even know how they’re being made anymore,” Poison mentioned. "Jet, what have you uncovered?"   
"Not much, just some empty cans and whatnot. This is a pretty common place for 'joys to root, so don't get your hopes up."  
"I've actually found plenty of stuff," Poison said, somewhat braggingly.  
"Good for you," Jet dismissed.   
Poison's pockets were already heavy, and his hands full. He went to put his findings in the trans am, then returned with empty pockets and hands, to grab more.  
An hour and a half passed. The three killjoys gathered a surprising amount of shit. Soon the back row of seats (where they were piling shit) was getting full, so when Kobra went back to sit on the drive back he had to kinda push some shit out of the way and some of it spilled on the floor. Eh, they'd just pick it up later.  
The engine hummed. Poison twirled his new necklace in his fingers. He adored it and was never going to take it off ever.   
"So, you excited for the nest to reopen?" Jet teased.   
"Excited probably isn't the word," Poison answered with a sigh. "I'm just really nervous."  
"Aww, is wittle poison getting fwustered awound his cwush?"  
"Oh shut the fuck up!" Poison spat. "It's not like you haven't had crushes before!"   
"Yeah, and you treat me the same whenever I have crushes," Kobra sneered. "So suck it."   
"How many days are left 'til the nest is open again?" Jet asked.   
"Three," Poison answered without skipping a beat. "I've been counting down the days."  
It was true. Every morning Poison would wake up and his inner voice would whisper in one ear just how many days he had left to figure out what to do. Every day that passed only tied that knot in his stomach tighter.   
"I'm sorry I don't really know how to help, it's just.. I'm a twink, so naturally I'm not good at giving like, confession advice."  
Poison shrugged. "Well, I'm a twink too, so.."  
Suddenly, both brothers' eyes turned to Jet.   
Jet flushed. "W-what are you looking at me for?!"   
"Oh, nothing." Poison glared at his brother.   
"Pft- hey Jet, I think P wants some advice." A smirk crept across Kobra's face.  
"Oh!" Jet was no longer confused, of course, yet he still gave Poison a weird look. "Just because I'm not a twink doesn't mean I'm not a flustered little BITCH, Pois!"   
"Fair point!"  
Kobra giggled. "Poison, you should try asking Ghoul!"  
"Are you fucking crazy?! That'll make me literally DIE," Poison exclaimed. Asking a question.. like that… to Ghoul would definitely make Poison want to scream into a pillow.   
"To be fair, he's not easily flustered-" Jet added wisely. "At least I don't think, I've never dated him. And he's far from a twink."  
"I am NOT ASKING GHOUL HOW TO CONFESS TO A CRUSH," Poison yelled.   
"Ok, geez! You got any better ideas??" Kobra replied.   
"No!!! Please supply some!! You guys are smarter than me!!!"  
"Uhh… well, you asked Sweet Revenge, right?" Kobra asked.   
"Yeah, we- wait.. how do you know that?? That was supposed to be secret."   
"What else could you possibly have been talking about?"   
Poison turned pink. "Well… yeah."  
Kobra nodded. "Well? Did she give you any info? She has a girlfriend, doesn't she?"   
"How did you know that and I didn't??"  
"..Poison, we've literally talked to her girlfriend before?? At parties???" You were there????"  
"Oh, wait, we did?" Poison tried to recall. "Huh. I don't remember."   
"Well go on!" Jet added. "Did she give you any tips?"   
"She told me to tell Ghoul that I like his face," Poison replied. "Which I do, of course, he has a very fine face- it's just that i will never, ever, ever say that to him. At least not unless we end up.. actually, y'know, getting together?"  
Jet nodded, scratching his chin. "Fair, that's.. not good advice for a confession, to be honest."   
"You could always ask Dr. D, y'know, he's as old as the hills, he's gotta have some experience with love."   
"He's like, 34, Kobes, that's not that old," Jet corrected.   
"Whatever his age is, I'm not asking Dr. Death for advice on anything, he'll go on a 2 hour rant filled with cautionary tales from when he was a young boy or whatever."  
"Cherri? Pony?"   
"I don't know if Pony even knows what love is," Poison said. "And Cherri… No."   
Kobra snickered. "P, maybe you should lower your standards or we're gonna run out of people to ask."   
"I just… this needs to be perfect, y'know?"   
The other two killjoys were silent.   
"Oh, sorry, I was just waiting for you to say something like 'as perfect as him' because that would've been a perfect opportunity but then you didn't do it and now I just have a sour taste in my mouth," Kobra said.  
"Oh screw you," Poison replied.  
"Y'know Pois, it's not like you're planning your wedding day," Jet reasoned. "It really doesn't have to be perfect. Keep in mind you're both going to be super hammered, in a damp, crowded house with music blaring and the smell of weed in the air that's so thick that if you open your mouth you can taste it, and you're both sweating vodka and probably ecstasy. Do you really think anything will go as planned?"   
..Wow. That was.. a little too true. The words echoed in Party Poison's mind, and he could feel them in his throat.   
"No," he finally answered.   
"Jet's right," Kobra added. "It probably won't be a perfect romantic scene with cherry blossoms and rice grains falling at your feet. It won't be fancy and you should probably just accept that before you frustrate yourself."  
"It doesn't need to be perfect, I just…" Poison swallowed. "I really don't want to fuck it up."   
Kobra stuck his hand around the car seat and put it on Pois's shoulder. "You won't fuck it up. I promise."  
"You can't promise that. Neither can I, for that matter."  
"Not with that attitude," Jet replied.  
Poison sighed. "Whatever. We'll figure it out, right?"  
"Yeah," both of the other killjoys said in unison.  
"..Cool."  
***  
"Hellooooo?" Poison called into the quiet motel.  
There wasn't an immediate response. Just the muffled sound of an array of movements that told Poison's ears that someone was home.   
Someone's shadow appeared on the ground outside the hallway. That person turned out to be Ghoul, which was lucky, because Poison didn't feel like dealing with unexpected guests.   
Ghoul’s hair was tied in a bun (he never did that, what??), and he was wearing some cute pj’s, which was also weird because Ghoul had fallen asleep in his clothes. He squinted, but his eyes were being pulled down by his noticeable eye bags. One hand was holding a bowl of what Poison could assume to be cereal. His other hand moved to his hip and he made some kind of motion or gesture that Poison couldn’t see, maybe an itch or pinching, then let out a long sigh.   
“Hey,” he said groggily.   
“Hi,” Kobra replied, before Poison could make a fool of himself.   
"I see you're back," he added.  
"Uh huh," Jet said, slowly and suspiciously. "I see you're awake."   
"Uh huh," Ghoul sighed. He sat down and set the bowl down on the coffee table. Poison leaned over to see what was in it. It was just sugary cereal. Ghoul began to eat it with his hands and it was not pleasant to watch.   
"Whatcha got there, Ghoul?" Poison asked, though he knew already.   
"Old cereal," Ghoul said in between bites. "Cheapest thing you can get at Tommy's shop. Easy b-fast."   
"Wait, how old is this??" Jet pointed to the bowl.   
"I dunno." Ghoul shrugged. 'Check the box. Top shelf."  
Jet moved to the cabinets and started searching the top shelves.   
"How did you even reach up there? You're tiny," Kobra said, patting Ghoul's head.  
"First of all, shut up, you're an asshole, second of all, I climbed on the counter."  
"Ah, of course. How silly of me to ask."  
Jet made a throwing-up gesture. "Egh! Ghoul, this expired in 2018!"   
"So? Cereal can last longer than the expiration date," Ghoul replied through a mouthful of cereal.   
"Yeah, it can't last a year!"   
"So?" Ghoul repeated. "I'm poor and I'm sick of eating beans. It's just a simple, sweet morning meal."  
"Yeah, a morning meal that could make you really really sick!" Jet stressed.   
"Heh, why do you guys all care sooooo much about me all of a sudden?" Ghoul chuckled.   
"Uhh, because we missed you? And we care about you??" Poison reasoned.   
"Keh," Ghoul snickered. "Funny hearing that from you."  
Poison's stomach churned.   
"You ok, Ghoul? You're acting weird."  
"Yeah, not to mention the fact that your face is like, entirely drained of color. Like, I wasn't gonna say anything, but seriously," Poison muttered. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
"Well, that's one way to put it," Ghoul murmured.   
"What?"   
"Nothing, how was your trip?"   
"Ghoul, what is wrong?"   
Kobra didn't get serious much, at least not anymore. That was because when Kobra was serious he was scary, and he didn't like scaring people. Sometimes, however, it was just plain necessary.   
"Fine, it's just… a little nightmare, that's all," Ghoul spilled.   
"Really." Jet squinted.   
"Yeah, what else is there to say?"   
"Do you wanna tell us about what the dream was…?"  
"Hmm. Nah," Ghoul decided. "I'll pass."  
"That.. wasn't supposed to be a yes or no question, but you know what, this is fine," Jet remarked. "As long as you're ok now."  
"Well…" Ghoul paused, and let out a sigh before going silent. "Maybe I'll tell you about it later. I'm just gonna finish-"  
"Nuh-uh!" Jet scolded. "No more gross cereal!"   
"Ughhh, fine…." Ghoul crossed his arms grumpily. "You can take my cereal but you can't take my dignity."  
"If you say so." Jet smiled. "Have something else to eat."   
"Nah, I'm good," Ghoul insisted. "I'm full."  
Jet raised an eyebrow. "Y'sure? We've got some perfectly good cans of power pup calling your name from the crates."   
"I'll pass, thanks." Ghoul waved dismissively at Jet, which was weird. Everything about this was weird.   
Ghoul seemed to disappear without another word, which was kind of inconvenient for everyone, since this would be the first time he had been awake in.. over 20 hours (wow, right?) and everyone kind of had questions that they wanted to ask but didn't want to overload him so they wanted to kind of spread them out over time, but now they couldn't do that of course, because he was isolating himself once again. Ugh.  
Party Poison was, of course, not excluded from full-of-questions gang. Personally he wanted to know more about this nightmare business, mostly because Ghoul was pretty, too pretty to be tortured by nightmares. But he wasn't being nosy right? He was just concerned for his friend.   
And he definitely wasn't being nosy when he went up to Ghoul's bedroom door and upon seeing it was locked, knocked delicately. There was no response.   
But Poison knew his friend was in there- he could see his shadow moving around. Pacing, perhaps. But Poison didn't leave, at least not immediately. He waited for a bit.   
Lucky that he did, because he received something in return.   
A slip slid under the door after a while, which Poison didn't expect. He didn't know Ghoul even had paper. Or anything to write with. Did Ghoul even know how to write? Let's find out, I guess. 

It's about you.


	12. It's About Him?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghoul tells Poison the truth, kinda.  
> There's mystery in the local skatepark.  
> Warnings- the f slur, implied death/murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys, im kinda sick so sorry if the chapter is a bit later than usual! This chapter HAS TRIGGERS so please heed the warnings, specifically in the summary! Love you ^^

Chapter 12- It's About Him  
What?  
Party Poison's eyes moved from left to right, left to right, rereading the piece of paper over and over and over, quite a few times before it got processed in his mind.  
It's about you? It?? C’mon, Ghoul, you know better than to play the pronoun game.  
The red-haired killjoy was lying supine on his bed, holding the slip up to the light, searching for answers in every last pen stroke. But after a minute it clicked.  
Oh no.  
Poison’s stomach tightened up. No no no no no.  
Ok, calm down Pois- it’ll be fine, right? At least he’s awake now, which means he’s safe from nightmares.  
It’s about you. What did that even mean? Obviously Poison had figured out the context but, what specifically.. Was the nightmare? In truth, Poison had.. An idea, as to what it most likely was, but.... God, he hoped he wasn’t right.  
Now, the epic decision- to bug Ghoul about it, or not to bug Ghoul about it? That was the question. Ghoul probably didn't want to be bothered, but.. Poison felt like if he talked about it, he might feel better. Speaking for both of them.  
Poison rapped twice on Ghoul's door. There wasn't any immediate response, but Poison could almost feel the tension radiating from inside.  
The door opened a crack, and it took Poison a second to figure out if it was actually Ghoul or just a draft from the window or something. Fortunately it was not the latter.  
"Hello," Ghoul said in a low voice.  
"Hi," Poison replied shakily.  
"Did you plan on.. coming in, or- did you need me to come out for something?"  
"Come in," Poison decided. "Wait, I meant I come in. Or maybe not! Uh, what do you think??"  
"I'm good with whatever," Ghoul replied.  
"Wait, so can I come in??"  
"Pfft, as if you need to be invited in?" Ghoul chuckled. "Alright, get in here, you vampire."  
"Is that supposed to be an insult?"  
Ghoul laughed as the crack in the door widened with a creak. The black-haired killjoy stepped out of the way for Party Poison to walk in.  
It had been a while since Poison had actually been inside Ghoul's bedroom. Naturally, it was a fucking disaster.  
"Damn bitch, you live like this?" Poison said.  
"Yep," Ghoul sighed.  
To be frank, it was.. a wreck. Clothes absolutely everywhere, nothing was organized, Poison hated it with such a burning passion but was his ass about to organize it for him? No.  
Ghoul pretty much threw his body onto the bed. The mattresses in the model were old as shit, so while they were still bouncy, they made a huge amount of noise. Poison sat next to him, legs crossed as he propped his upper body up against the wall.  
Poison… wanted to hold Ghoul's hand.  
He did! And it was GROSS and MUSHY.  
But his hands were just like, sitting there? Not being held by anyone? Which was illegal, because they were good hands. Calloused, but not rough- soft, but not too soft, not like, baby-soft.  
And his nails were painted black, which was new.  
Well, after that he wasn't technically holding them, just- prodding at them a little with his own fingers.  
Either Ghoul didn't notice, or he liked it, or maybe he just didn't give enough of a fuck to stop Poison. But his hands are… well obviously they're perfect, but they're also a little shaky.  
"Hey, you okay?" Poison asked gently.  
"Huh?" Ghoul looked back at his friend. "Oh, yeah. Just a bit shaken up."  
"From what?" Poison replied, without missing a beat, his head jerking over.  
"I mean, heh," Ghoul smiled dumbly, which told Poison that this is going to be a weird conversation on both ends. "I assume you already figured out the- nightmare thing."  
"Yeah. 'It's about you.' You ok with explaining that?"  
"I mean, I can certainly try," Ghoul assured. "No promises that it's going to be.. intelligible. At all."  
"Pfft, please. You're never intelligible and we all get by just fine."  
"Hah, true," Ghoul smiled wide, baring sharp teeth, but it quickly morphed into a sadder grin with closed lips. "..So."  
"Yeah?"  
"Ok so, basically what happened was.. heh," Ghoul's eyes were almost cloudy, like he was deeply trying to be articulated. "You obviously 'member that part where we.. all thought you were dead."  
Poison's stomach tightened. "Uh huh."  
"Well, you were."  
Poison swallowed. "Well, it was a dream. That's what's important, right?"  
"It was," Ghoul agreed. "But it was scary as shit. And it felt so real, and it could have been real. If you hadn't come back."  
Ghoul was lying down now, on the mattress, talking to air with Poison eavesdropping. Still touching hands, which Poison was grateful for, even though Ghoul didn't mean anything by it.  
"You're ok," Poison assured. "I'm not going anywhere."  
"Yeah, well don't," Ghoul grumbled. "Or I'll find you in the desert and beat your ass. And if you're already dead by then I'll personally find you in the Phoenix Witch's ghost realm and beat your ghost ass even harder."  
"You know what? That's fair. I'll accept that. If it happens, which it won't.  
"It better not."  
Poison nodded. "Well, other than that, how did you sleep?"  
"Alright," Ghoul said. "I mean, the first few hours, I wouldn't even class that as sleep. I pretty much blacked out, haha."  
"Pft. Well, at least you got the sleep you earned, eventually."  
Ghoul nodded, smiling sadly. "How's the fudge? Is it any good at all?"  
"Oh god, it's phenomenal," Party Poison answered dreamily. "I haven't touched it since my first piece. I wanna save it."  
"Just don't let it go rotten, or it'll have gone to waste, heh," Ghoul replied.  
"That's true," Poison said, though truthfully, he had planned on keeping it forever. But was he going to do that now that he knew Ghoul didn't want it to go bad? Absolutely not. "In fact, I think I'll go have a piece right now. You want one?"  
Ghoul shook his head insistently. "Nah, I mean, it's for you, right?"  
"No no, I insist," Poison assured. "It's your money. Besides, you need to get something in your stomach besides old cereal."  
"Fair point," Ghoul replied.  
Poison got up off the bed and pushed Ghoul's bedroom door open. He ran to find the fudge- he wasn't about to keep Ghoul waiting, was he?  
He quickly retrieved it from where he had put it in his room and ran back down the hall in his socks (so dangerous!) and pushed the door back open with his elbow.  
"That was quick," Ghoul remarked.  
"I'm a quick person."  
"Heh, I'm sure you are," Ghoul replied. "Now gimme gimme."  
Poison wasn't sure what to think of that first bit, but he broke off a piece of fudge and handed it to Ghoul. He held it in his hands before sinking his teeth into it.  
"Well?" Poison tapped his foot.  
"It's hard. Good, but hard. My teeth hurt now."  
"Hmm. I think it's perfect."  
"Of course you do," Ghoul mumbled.  
Poison munched on his piece of fudge. He didn't think it was especially hard at all, but.. eh.  
Poison stood up. "We should go do something."  
"We should, but there's not much to do."  
"Hmm. I might go see what Pony is up to. They always have something to do."  
Poison was just kind of bored out of his mind at this point. Frankly he didn't really want to talk to Pony now that he knew there was a high chance that they knew about his "uwu boy crush wushy". He'd never hear the end of it from them… but it was boring on days like this. Maybe going to the nest wouldn't be so bad after all..  
No, actually, it would.  
Ghoul nodded. "That doesn't seem like a bad plan. They'll probably get us into some shit though..."  
"I know! Doesn't it sound like fun?"  
"Pft," Ghoul giggled. "..yeah."  
"Then let's do it."  
***  
Poison didn't exactly plan on asking Pony for advice, but at this point his standards were reaching dangerously low levels. What was he supposed to do instead, come up with his own game plan? Hah, what a joke.  
Party Poison's hands gripped the wheel of the trans am. "I like your nails, by the way," he muttered. "Didn't really get the chance to tell you before."  
"Oh, thanks!" Ghoul held his nails up to the mirror. "I painted them during my shift. The lack of customers at 3 in the fucking morning called for direct action to prevent boredom, and I guess Tommy just has black nail polish lying around."  
"Pffft! That capitalist freak? Owning nail polish?? In what fucking universe…"  
Ghoul nodded insistently. "Right?? I imagine it was probably a product that somehow got misplaced onto the front desk, but holy hell, now I'm imagining Tommy with his nails painted and I can't stop laughing to myself about it."  
"It is a pretty funny mental image. To be clear."  
"Hell yeah."  
They got to the diner pretty soon. At this hour Dr. D was usually off doing the radio thing, and Cherri was off doing Cherri stuff, but Show Pony tended to hang around the diner in the middle of the afternoon like this, because most of the time the time they spent delivering messages across the zones was in the dead of night. Poison didn't even know if Pony ever had time to sleep.  
Sure, Pony didn't have great history with relationships as a whole, but c'mon, with how many love letters they dealt with during their messaging business, they had to have some kind of experience with that kind of thing, right?  
Eh, whatever. It didn't matter. Now that he was with Ghoul, it was improbable that Poison would have time to ask Pony for any advice anyway.  
The car screeched to a stop in between two parking spaces, because literally who the hell knows how to park in the zones? Poison hopped out, the bottoms of his boots hitting the hot asphalt. Ghoul followed, on the opposite end of the car, and the two of them moved towards the door.  
"Oh good, you're not busy," Ghoul announced.  
Show Pony was doing what looked to be a twisted form of yoga atop some tables propped up to form some sort of stage like area. They were twisted in a way no human would naturally be able to accomplish, somehow with their roller skates still on.  
"Actually, Ghoul? I am busy, in case you can't tell," Pony sneered.  
Ghoul had entered the diner first, Poison behind him. At the angle Pony had put themself in, they couldn't really tell anyone besides Ghoul was there. Poison waved, but otherwise didn't make himself known at all.  
"You need help getting out of that.. pose?" Ghoul advised.  
"I'm just fine, thank you," Pony answered. "Tell me you aren't here with another letter? At least let it be delivered to someone in the nearer zones. I'm still coughing up my lungs from the last letter you gave me to inner zone 6."  
Ghoul noticeably gulped. "Yeah, uh.. no letter," he managed. "We just wanted to come hang out because we're bored as shit."  
"We?" Pony squirmed out of their position.  
"Yeah, I'm here too, hi," Poison added.  
"..Oh!" Pony looked quite taken by surprise. Nearly toppling off the table, but somehow swiftly landing on one hand and one skate, they turned to face Poison and Ghoul's shoes.  
"Hello, you two," Pony mused.  
"Hi," Ghoul sighed.  
"Hello!" Poison waved.  
"Hokay, so.. what's on the agenda for you two? You really just here cause you're bored, or are you also here to confront me about something I may or may not have done?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about and I don't think I want to know," Ghoul answered simply. "We're just here to be here."  
"Oh, well sweet. I've been needing some company besides Cherri."  
Poison took a seat next to Pony. "Where is Cherri anyway?"  
"I dunno." Pony shrugged. "Off doing Cherri stuff, I suppose. Probably off being boring with D over at the radio station."  
"I wouldn't call Cherri boring," Ghoul argued.  
"Cherri's with Dr. D, huh?" Poison scratched his chin. "I wonder if he's gonna be at the party this weekend."  
"I mean, I dunno," Pony replied. "Parties ain't really the kinda thing Cherri usually plans ahead for. Like if he's not in the mood to go to a party he won't go."  
"Ha! Wish I could do the same," Poison laughed. Ghoul nodded, an eyebrow raising.  
"Nah bro, you don't really have a choice this time around," Pony replied truthfully. "I mean, it'll be the first time you'll be seen by the public eye since ya first disappeared."  
"Haha, yeah. Totally can't wait to be swarmed with questions, that's always my favorite part."  
"Well, maybe you'll get lucky," Ghoul said cheerfully.  
I certainly hope I do. Poison exhaled. "Well anyway, what were you planning on doing today, Pony?"  
"I'm practicing magic but it's not that big a deal," Pony answered coolly.  
"Oh wow, that's rad," Ghoul remarked. "You taking it up with witchjoys?"  
"Yeah," Pony answered. "I ran into some weird witchy grandma at Tommy's shop whilst buying more unbreakable champagne flutes, and she told me that her angel didn't like my helmet, so I took it off and she patted my head and said "may your snakes be never seen" and she handed me a pack of half-eaten cigarettes and a very, very small lizard. And ever since that day I have been a full-time witch."  
"Wow." Ghoul looked like he was actively trying to sustain a neutral expression while also holding laughter in his mouth.  
"Wow indeed," Poison repeated. "What happened to the lizard?"  
"We don't speak of him anymore. He betrayed me."  
"Fair enough."  
Ghoul sat down, itching the area under his eyes.  
"I think I might make tea," Pony announced. That's what witchjoys do, right? They make tea out of random shit they find?"  
"Sure," Poison supposed. "There are no rules."  
"I'm gonna make tea out of my own sweat."  
"Do not do that. That is the only rule."  
"Ugh, fine. You're no fun. It's pretty much just drinking water anyway."  
"Uhh.. I think I have plants in my pockets," Poison muttered. "I don't know what they do, but if Jet let me have them, they probably can't do anything bad."  
"Cool, hand them over."  
Poison dug in his pockets and fished out some spiky-looking leaves. He placed them into Pony's palms. "I was about to say, be careful making tea with strange plants, but hey, I've literally witnessed a witchjoy making tea out of peppermint and dish soap in a Gatorade bottle and when I came back the next day she was still sitting there so, it can't hurt to try."  
"Fair enough."  
Ghoul had been kind of quiet. Unfortunately this wasn't really the… format? That Poison had expected when visiting Pony, since they were usually around other people, especially in the diner.  
Poison sat next to Ghoul, hoping he would acknowledge him. Clattering sounds came from the kitchen.  
"So where are Jet Star and the Kobra Kid?"  
"We left 'em home," Ghoul answered before Poison could.  
"Why?"  
"What, we aren't allowed to want to do our own thing every once in a while?" Poison chuckled.  
"I mean, aight," Pony supposed. "It's just that it's been a whole 2 days since I saw my other babies."  
"Oh right, we're your babies," Ghoul remarked. "I always found that weird."  
"Well, the zones are a super weird place, so you might as well just get used to it already, sister."  
Ghoul laughed. "Pony, I've been in the zones since I was sixteen, I think I know that by now."  
"Weeell, everyone else in our little group has been here longer than you. So.."  
Poison shot Pony a look that said 'Don't'. If they had noticed, Poison couldn't tell.  
"Ughhhh, I'm bored," Poison lamented, intentionally trying to change the subject. "I'm this close to going out and fucking shit up on my own without you two losers."  
"Who are you calling a loser, you fuckin' nimrod?" Ghoul challenged jokingly.  
"Silence, darlings, I'll get you something to do soon." Show Pony skated around in circles, doing mini pirouettes and shit. Did Pony know ballet? Probably. They were that extra.  
"And what might that be?"  
“Well, if you must know,” Pony said, skating over to Poison, “I was thinking we could head to the old skatepark with some paint and mark it up a bit, if you know what I mean.”  
“Pfft, is there anywhere in the skatepark that hasn’t already been marked up?” Ghoul asked.  
“Sure, there’s a spot by the old swingset that’s been practically untouched,” Pony replied.  
“The ones that break every time you try to sit on them but somehow they always replenish themselves after 24 hours? Yeah, no wonder people don’t like to graffiti near those, they’re spooky as hell,” Poison added.  
“If we’re just ruling out all spooky things now, then I guess Ghoul can’t come.” Pony crossed their arms.  
“Hey!”  
“Besides,” Pony added, “It’s not that spooky. Probably some kids who really like the swings and know how to fix them."  
"Kids are even spookier than ghosts," Poison lamented.  
"That's fair, but you don't get a say in any of this, Pois, you're gay."  
"He sure is," Ghoul said, grinning. "And he threw the first brick."  
Poison bit his lip.  
"Alright, should we get going?"  
"Sure."  
***  
Obviously, it wasn't long until they got to the skatepark- it simply wasn't that far a drive from the diner, though it would've been a longer walk.  
"I was skating past here the other day doing deliveries," Pony said, "and a cobblestone whizzed right by my head, and I turned to see who it was and it was this greaser-looking fucker- he had the slick hair and the leather look and everything- and he called me a faggot and then I just skated away. And I thought what a weird experience, because people don't usually do that here, yknow? Until later when I realized that he was one of the hankies."  
"Who?" Asked Ghoul.  
"Some weirdos from zone three who act like 50's gays and display sexual affection by acting like total douchebags," Poison answered. "I need to brush up on my hankiespeak, but I'm pretty sure a stoning is a sign that-"  
"They wanna grind the living daylights out of you," Pony laughed. "Yeah, I figured that out. Cherri told me- he used to be around them a lot, yknow. He met all sortsa folk in his time as a wavehead."  
"God, I forget that guy used to be a wavehead quite often," Poison mused.  
"Yeah, weird to think about."  
That day wasn't a complete shower curtain, but the heat wasn't unbearable, which meant it was good for getting out and doing things. Jet was out visiting a black-smith to get one of Kobra's busted individuals fixed because Kobra didn't want him to do it himself because "I feel like that guy has something against me every time I go there," while Kobra offered to go with Poison and Ghoul to the diner, but to be honest, Poison would rather not have him present. Two less onlooking eyes while Poison desperately tried to get his point across to Pony. It would be hard enough doing it with Ghoul there.  
The car skidded to a stop. This skatepark was run down to hell and back, but it was a common meeting place for kids like Bug, who were still somewhat fresh out of the city and wanted to come to skate or make art or flirt like puppy-dogs in a playpen.  
The ground the killjoys walked on was splattered with dried blood. That wasn't abnormal, as long as the blood was dry it usually wasn't anything to worry about, but there was still a pang of sadness in Poison's heart knowing that it could've been someone he knew. Or, more likely, someone who Bug knew.  
Poison wondered about Bug fairly often. He never really figured much out about him. It hadn't been too long since they'd seen him but, where had he gone anyway?  
Poison just found himself hoping the blood wasn't Bug's.  
"Hey losers, get over here, this is where I was talking about!"  
Pony's voice sang, echoing into the first half of the fab four's ears from the rusted swing set.  
Pony had sat down in one of the swings, which was pretty much asking for them to fall off. The swing hung freely, swinging gently from side to side along with the desert breeze, and the old swing set creaked exhaustedly, like it was going to flatline any minute.  
"Watch this," they said, raising their eyebrows.  
They lifted up their legs. Both of the chains SNAPPED, and Pony fell to the dirt, kicking up sand and grime in a cloud around them.  
"See what I mean!" Poison exclaimed. "Like, how do you walk that off! I swear, there's witchcraft going on in this playground."  
"Well, maybe my rituals have been doing something." Pony giggled.  
“Ok, so this is the spot you wanted to graffiti?" Poison asked.  
"Yep." Pony twirled a lock of their chocolate hair.  
There was a moment when no one spoke. The only sound was the soft breathing of the witch against the sky, as she always did in the daytime. In the lonely skatepark, in the brisk zone winter air, as the winds ran their icy fingers through Party Poison's hair, there was an uncomfortable quiet that dug a pit in his stomach.  
"This place has had draculoids around," Poison announced. "In the last few days."  
"What?" Ghoul's eyes secreted a hearty mixture of confusion and concern.  
"Dracs, Ghoul. I can sense it. This silence carries the cries of the recently deceased. We should leave, now."  
"But we just got here!" Pony whined.  
Poison glared at Pony, who had never seen his eyes, obviously. Again, nobody but Kobra did. But somehow, the dead stare of those hollow cutouts were enough for Pony to gulp down their complaints.  
"You are welcome to stay," Poison said darkly. His hands shook, and for a moment he stared emptily down at the blood on the cement pavement, which didn't seem as dry anymore.  
"That blood is dry, Poison."  
"No, it's NOT."  
Ghoul faltered. His jaw hung, agape.  
Poison didn't yell. Poison had yelled before, mostly during firefights, but not in a personal way. He would yell at his crew to look alive, to hurry up and get in the car, to get your gun out, you son of a bitch; but he wouldn't yell at you. The last person Poison had actually yelled at was… probably his parents, to be honest. Which was a good.. god, eight years ago.  
"Poison.."  
It was Pony who said this. Ghoul might as well have lost his ability of speech.  
"What are you looking at?" Poison said, his voice breaking. "I said we're leaving."  
"No."  
Poison's heart skipped a beat.  
"What?" Poison hissed. On the 't' syllable, his teeth clasped together tightly.  
"Poison, look, I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're acting cuckoo."  
"Yeah, you need to calm down," Pony chimed in, seemingly just to get something said.  
Poison said nothing. The wind whipped his hair.  
"Poison," Ghoul said, his voice suddenly gentler. "We're worried about you. Did something happen during the time you were gone?"  
"..I'm going home," Poison said plainly, clenching his teeth.  
"Wait," Ghoul breathed.  
"No."  
Ghoul sighed. It wasn't going to work. Pony patted him on the back of his shoulder empathizingly.  
"If you don't want to walk home, I advise you shut up and get in the car right now."  
"Whatever you say."


	13. Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's not much time left.   
> Party Poison and Show Pony talk.

24 hours.   
Party Poison had. Twenty-four. Hours. Until all hell broke loose.   
Yesterday had been… interesting. After Poison and Fun Ghoul dropped off Show Pony, neither of them really wanted to talk to each other, and Poison certainly didn't want to talk to anyone else, so Poison might as well just have gone to bed at 4pm, because he wasn't talking to anyone and stayed inside his room until night fell a few hours later. Ghoul seemed to chat it up with the other two, though, and however much Poison may have expected them to eventually give his door a knock and ask pleasantly if they could all just talk things out, it didn't happen.  
In the morning, Poison didn't have time to think about his friends staring him down as he grabbed a daily helping of power pup, because he had other things to worry about. 6 days had passed and now it was time to get down to business, not to defeat the huns, but to plan how this party thing was gonna happen. He should've been planning the whole time, but he didn't, and the past is the past so there's no use in worrying about that, but of course there's use in worrying about the party itself.  
Jet was trying to look like he wasn't staring at Poison as he fixated on the floor while he shoveled power pup into his mouth, even though he very clearly was. Kobra was the only one who dared say a word to his brother.   
"Hey bro," he said nonchalantly, walking around in a pair of pajama pants with a can of beans in one hand.   
"Hey," Poison replied thoughtlessly.  
Jet glared at Kobra, as if to say 'how are you doing that?' Kobra just shrugged.   
"What's up, Pois?" Jet asked experimentally, to see if he was ready to talk to anyone else.   
Poison just shrugged. "The party's in less than a day now."  
"Ahhhh." Jet seemed to understand. He and Kobra exchanged glances. I mean, Ghoul was right there, and even though mentioning the party around him didn't really imply anything, it was weird that he was talking about it openly.   
Poison took another bite of power pup. "This tastes like shit."  
"It tastes like food that dogs eat," Kobra replied. "I dunno why you're surprised."   
"I'm not," Poison responded with his mouth full. "It's just that the day before a party, nothing tastes good."  
"Why's that?" Jet asked.   
"Cause your body wants to get boozed up!" Ghoul exclaimed. It was the first thing he had said so far, and it was refreshingly casual. Poison felt his cheek lift into the tiniest smile.   
"I bet Pois can't wait to get absolutely plastered for the first time in three weeks, eh, redboy?" Ghoul walked over to the couch and gave Poison a nudge.  
And something in Poison broke. The poker face he had maintained so far shattered like glass in the bifrost when you tried to walk on it with heels, and a flock of giggles escaped his lips.   
"You're right to be honest," he squealed. "I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't.. looking forward to it."  
Jet's jaw dropped and his gaze rapidly switched from Poison to Kobra while his surprised expression quickly turned into a wide, open smile.   
"Ah, me too," Ghoul groaned. "It confused me when they powered off the nest as a response of you disappearing. It's like, 'Party Poison's gone! No fun allowed until he gets back!'"  
Poison giggled again. Ah, this felt good! Poison recognized that Ghoul was trying to lighten the mood by acting like everything was normal. That had to be it, anyway, there was no way Ghoul actually just let it all go- none of them would do that. It still felt nice though, knowing that this was all in an effort to make him more comfortable.   
Ghoul yawned. "Alarm clock radiation was good this morning, joys. You shoulda been up to see it."  
"I was trying to catch up on sleep, so in the morning on Sunday, I'll just be hungover, not hungover and extra tired," Jet replied.  
"Sleep is for losers. I get all the energy I need from the sun, like a plant."  
"Plants don't last long in the desert," Kobra joked, playfully punching Ghoul in the shoulder.   
"They do if they get plenty of water," Ghoul retorted. "Or, in my case, alcohol."  
"You guys are clowns." Poison rolled his eyes.   
"And you aren't?"   
Jet sighed. "Pois, you know what we're gonna do today?"  
"I haven't decided." Whatever the fab 4 decided to do that day had to offer plenty of time for Poison to plan.   
"Well, decide quick. I don't wanna sit around all day. I'm gettin' antsy," Ghoul complained.   
"We'll do something. I promise."   
Was that a promise Poison was willing to keep? Probably not.   
"Helloooo!!" Came a voice from the door. The four heads jerked to see who it could've been. The slim figure of Show Pony was poking into the lobby, standing on one skate, their other leg extended perpendicular to the door.  
"Oh, hey Pony." Ghoul waved in a weird way, like he was washing a window.   
"Good morning babies," Pony mused, skating slowly in an arc around where the four were sitting, patting each of them on their heads. "How are my children doing on this fine day?"  
"Pony, I just wanna remind you that we're all older than you," Jet reasoned. "I mean, you just turned 20 last month right? Yeah, everyone here is at least a year older than you."  
"Well, whatever you think my age may be, it is inevitable that despite my outward sexy appearance, I am actually an eldritch god of roller skating. You should feel lucky that I have taken you four under my wing."  
"Whatever you say," Jet sighed.   
"So what's up?" Poison stood up, crossing his arms. "You got anything to deliver for us?"  
"What, I'm not allowed to come over just to visit my little birds? I have to have a reason to come over now?"  
Kobra leaned over. "Pony, I can see you holding a letter behind your back."   
Show Pony flushed. "Ugh, fine. It's from the caskettes."  
Poison perked up. Another letter from Sweet Revenge! This could either be a really good thing or a really bad thing, but whatever it was, it was happening.   
Pony tossed the letter to Poison. It was a crumpled up piece of notebook paper with a stamp haphazardly slapped onto it, which seemed to defeat the purpose of the stamp itself.   
Poison started to unfurl the paper. "What's it say?" Kobra asked.   
"I dunno yet. Working on that," Poison answered.   
Poison finished smoothing the sheet out with his fist and held it up to the light, but still close enough to his face so only he could read it. 

To P-Brain,  
Hey, just wanted to write you again to make sure you didn't forget about me LOL   
So the party's comin' close! You'll never believe this- my band and i are going to be performing over there. At the nest, during the party this weekend. Crazy right!!! This is our first semi-big gig and im super nervous but im sure itll go great!! (Also, this means that if all goes well with u and him, youll be makin out or something like that while my band plays in the background and itll be rad af. Dont forget to credit me at the wedding XDD  
Hope u have fun today and tomorrow. Good luck on ur date   
-Rev

"So what's the scoop?" Ghoul tried to lean over to see what the letter said.   
Poison put the letter down, flattening it under his palm, writing-side down. "It's Rev," he said plainly. "Her and her band are gonna be performing there."  
"Oh, cool! What's her band called?"   
Kobra chuckled. "Knowing her, probably something like- i dunno- Bloody Gothic Rose 666."   
"Anything else?" Ghoul sat back down, crossing his legs.   
Poison swallowed. "No."  
"Aight."   
Wow, that was easy. Poison crumpled the letter up and shoved it in his pocket. When he did, he realized that the missing poster was still there. His eyes widened. He still needed to do something with that. Whatever. That was an ordeal for another time.   
***  
23 hours.   
By the time Poison figured out what was gonna happen today, an hour had already passed. An hour was 1/24th of the time left, which was 4.17% of the time. 4.17% of the time had already slipped through Poison's fingers.   
Poison could only do math well when he was stressed.   
"Alright, joyboys, are we leaving or what? Y'guys are slow as hell."   
"S'not our fault you're so much faster than the rest of us!" Jet called from his bedroom.   
"It's cause I don't comb my hair. That's the trick."  
"Well neither does Ghoul, but here we are!" Kobra chimed in.  
"Uhm, yes I do!"  
"Oh really," Jet called to Ghoul. "When was the last time you combed your hair?"  
"That's none of your business!" Ghoul spat.   
Hmm.   
"..Okay, fine, it was like.. 2 months ago. But I still do it more than Poison!"   
"Pfft."  
Ghoul stepped out. He had his hair tied up again. Is this just a thing he does now? Poison kinda liked it. (Though he liked Ghoul in general.) He also had on a pair of black pleather pants and a navy blue bomber jacket that he must've stole from Dr. Death Defying because only an old soul like him would ever wear something that ancient. And..  
"Hey, are those my gloves?"  
Ghoul looked up. "What, these?" He held out his hands for Poison to see. Sure enough, they were black fingerless gloves with skeleton hands imprinted on them.   
"Yeah, those are mine."  
"Like I don't know that." Ghoul rolled his eyes. "I stole them from you like four months ago. Surprised you didn't notice."  
"I did, but I thought they just got lost to the wind. Shit goes missing in the desert pretty often, Ghoul, I wouldn't have accused you of anything."  
"Well you were wrong not to accuse me.".Ghoul smirked, flexing his fingers in front of his and Poison's faces.   
"I'm surprised they fit so well on your tiny-ass hands." Poison crossed his arms.  
"Me too, to be honest. Fits like a glove."   
"..Because they're gloves."  
"You two have the weirdest fucking conversations, I swear," Kobra muttered, his voice muffled from inside his bedroom.  
Ghoul looked at Poison expectantly. Poison's mouth crinkled, and he looked to his left to avoid awkward eye contact.   
"Pfft, hey, what are you staring at?" Poison said, hoping he wasn't flushed.  
"You're not going to ask for them back? The gloves, I mean."  
"What? No, they're yours now." Poison looked at the gloves. They were good gloves, but..   
"Wait, really?" Ghoul's eyes widened.   
"I mean, yeah. You've clearly had them for a while," Poison explained. "Sooo, you can keep them if you want."   
"Really? Thank you!" Ghoul squealed.   
The black-haired killjoy stepped closer to Poison, and suddenly he embraced him tightly. Poison stood in shock for a second or two before his hands instinctively moved to Ghoul's shoulders. For a second it looked like they were two scene kids awkwardly slow dancing at a middle school graduation party.   
After a minute, Ghoul broke away. The awkwardness hung in the air, it was palpable, you could cut the tension with a knife. Ghoul bit his lip and blinked before reaching down and dusting off his jacket.   
He cleared his throat. "Thanks."   
"No problem." Poison sighed.  
It wasn't long before the other two killjoys joined.  
"Poison is right, y'know," Ghoul started. "You guys are slow."  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Jet smirked. "Let's just hurry up and get in the trans am."  
The killjoys piled into the trans am. Poison slid into the front seat, resting one hand on the wheel while he fixed his hair, to keep it out of his face while he was driving. Kobra got in the shotgun seat and the other two climbed into the back.  
They sped off. The sun was climbing higher and higher into the sky. The Infestation came into view.   
***  
"Goooood morning, Tommy Chow Mein!" Poison said loudly.   
"Good morning, problematic children." Tommy was standing at the register, which had been formed out of what used to be a Bl/ind standing desk (can't have battery citizens sitting for too long!), sipping what Poison could only assume to be vodka or something similar out of a coffee mug, because Tommy hated caffeine.  
"Aw c'mon, Tom, you know you can't keep calling us kids forever. I'm turning 25 this November."   
"Haha, you're old," Ghoul teased.   
"Shut up, rat, you're not such a baby cherub yourself."   
"Well, to an old soul like me, you hooligans will always be children." Tommy sighed, taking another sip of whatever was in that damned mug. "I think Dr. Death and those two twinks he always hangs around are in here right now, go bother them instead."  
"I assume you're talking about Cherri and Pony, ha."   
"Wait.." Ghoul squinted. "Cherri isn't a twink! He's a TWUNK, at the very least, Tommy, you imbecile!"   
Tommy had his head in his hands. "I don't know any of you kids' new gay lingo, please just leave me alone-"   
By the time he looked up, the killjoys were already gone. "Oh."  
100% guaranteed, they were off either raising the candy aisles or searching fervently for Dr. D and the rest of the Radio Ga-Gang. Both, let's go with both.   
"Did you seriously call Tommy Chow an imbecile?" Kobra inquired, grinning with a hand halfway over his mouth.  
"I was considering nitwit," Ghoul explained. "But I didn't want to sound like a Roald Dahl character. I've got insults down to a science, you see."  
"..Interesting."   
Whilst sifting the sweets aisle, the glint of artificial light on blue plastic caught Poison's eye. He turned, and there was Show Pony.   
They locked eyes for a minute  
"Oh, hewwo, mistew Pawty Poison sir," Pony mewled in a fake flustered voice.   
"Why are you.. talking like that?" Poison pushed Pony away.  
"Egh, don't question it," said a voice from behind them. Poison's head turned. It was Cherri, wearing a raggedy red shirt and some faded jeans. "When Pone walked in they jokingly said "hewwo" to Tommy and he told them to stop so.. adamantly, that Pony pretty much pledged to talk in uwu speak for the rest of the day just to spite him. It's been like ten minutes and we're all already sick of it."   
Pony rubbed up against Poison. "Notices your bulgy wulgy.. uwu.."   
"What the.. fuck?"  
"Oh yeah, and they've been saying that to… everyone."  
"Gross," Poison replied, crinkling his nose. "Pony, I don't even have a-"  
Ghoul's head turned. "Oh, Dr. Death!"   
Dr. Death rolled into the aisle in his wheelchair. "Ah, good morning killjoys. Nice to see your faces fresh this early."  
Cherri took a toothpick out of his mouth. "D, it's nearly 11 AM."  
"Yeah, that's early."  
"What's up, D?" Ghoul walked over, his converse squeaking on the paint splattered tile floor, placing an arm on Dr. Death's shoulder. "You getting prepped  for tomorrow night's big blowout?"  
"Pardon me?"   
"The nest is having like a.. grand reopening, since they shut down because of Pois's disappearance. Now that he's back we're allowed to have fun again."   
"I don't go to parties, dear boy, I'm practically ancient."  
"Fair enough. Cherri's coming though, right?"   
"Probably," Cherri said, talking sideways in the way, around the toothpick he had shoved over to the end of his mouth. "Mostly as Pony's date. Just in case nobody else takes up their offers."  
"Ew." Kobra crinkled his nose.   
"You see, I'm very single," Pony mused. "And also very desperate."   
"Relatable," Poison replied, and Jet shot him a glance that was quick, but held a lot of concern.  
"Feels bad man," Kobra replied.  
Jet cocked his head to the side. "Hey, what happened to the uwu speak?"   
"Wait, no-"   
"Oh, right," Pony realized. "I mean.. uwu, I'm just a single pwingle, I have no one to nuzzle with-"  
"I hate this so much," Kobra groaned.   
"WHY did you REMIND THEM.."  
"I'm sorry, I didn't think it would-"   
"Well anyway," Poison said loudly. "We're kind of here to get stuff for the party. You know us, the fab 4 is always the life of the party, haha."  
"Or the poison of the party." Dr. D winked.  
He doesn't mean anything by that.. does he?   
"Anyways," Dr. D continued, "we're here for a similar purpose. We're just splitting the stuff we get evenly so I can have a nice, caffeine-filled night by myself at the radio station, and Cherri and Pony can go out and do whatever they're going to do."  
"Ew," Kobra said again, quieter this time.  
"Oh yeah, and I'm taking all the Neptune Pop," Dr. D said with a smile.   
"Heyyy, no fair!" Pony pouted. "You took it all wast time! You know it's my vewy favowite!"  
"Well it's fucking delicious," Dr. Death mused. "I'm sure there'll be plenty to drink at the party, including things that'll give you more of a buzz than plain ol' soda."   
"Cheers to that!" Ghoul remarked.   
"Yeah, but-" Show Pony cr- sorry, cwossed their arms. "Ahh, whatever."   
Party Poison skimmed the aisles, running a finger along one of the shelves. Show Pony skated over to him, the ambient sound of the wheels on the tile floor catching his ear. They placed a gloved hand on his shoulder, pressing down, and their other hand moved around his face to poke their cheek. "Hey!"   
"Y'know," they hissed into Poison's ear. "I heawd that Tommy wecently got some new stuff in the shop, incwuding some… funny cigawettes."  
Poison squinted. "It's weed, right? You can say weed. It's 2019."  
"Some gwass, if you will."   
"Gwass? I mean- grass?" Ghoul's bored expression quickly twisted into one of immense interest. "Tommy sells weed here now??"  
"It's not cheap, but yeah," Cherri mused, taking the toothpick out of his mouth once more and holding it between two fingers, as if it were a cigarette. "Since last Wednesday, I believe. I don't know when Tommy decided it was moral to sell drugs in a public location, but that dude will do anything for a dime, so we really shouldn't be surprised."  
"It won't be here for long," said a gruff voice from behind them.   
The killjoys turned. There was Tommy- and suddenly Poison realized that it had been a while since he saw his entire body, because usually he saw only his upper body since he spent most of his time behind the counter.  
He was.. short. And plain. Not much to say there.   
"It's like Cherri said," he said in a low voice. "Drugs never last long in a public store. The pigs'll be on me faster than you can say 'sun-bleached bones' three times fast. So if you want it, y'better get on it."  
Ghoul's eyes turned from wide to starstruck in seconds. "Show me show me SHOW ME SHOW ME!!"  
"I can show you, Ghoul-kun!" Pony sang, doing a little dance on their skates. If Poison had tried to do it he would've fallen on his ass and died. Pony had a serious talent. "Maybe you can… buy me some of that gwass youwself? I'm low on cawbons…"  
Ghoul's eyes narrowed. "Only if you stop talking like an anime girl for the rest of the day."  
Pony's expression quickly morphed into a frown. "UGHHHH. Fine," they said, returning to their lower voice.   
"Much better." Ghoul grinned like the rat he was. "C'mon, thude. Let's go get you some drugs."   
"Thank you so much, bro."  
They walked to the end of the aisle, Ghoul's arm reaching around Pony's shoulder.   
Poison let out a long sigh.   
"You alright, Pois?" Jet's eyes held concern.   
"Yeah!" Poison's voice was strained. He didn't want Jet to worry, he did enough of that without the help. "Uhh, hey, Tommy, be a lamb and remind me where your bathroom is?"  
"Poison, there's no bathroom in here. You know that. Go piss outside if you have to."   
"Thanks!"  
Poison rushed outside. Obviously he didn't actually have to piss. That was just a excuse, a distraction, hell, a mere quip, to get Poison alone. Ok. Now was the time Poison would use to make some real plans.   
Poison slunk against the wall. Obviously they would need to be alone. Whether that be in a place with no one else around, or in a place where no one was just bothering to notice them (though the latter wouldn't be probable, after all, Poison was going to be the crowning jewel of the party). It would need to be at just the right time. Oh, of course! Poison would tell Rev to play a special song or some sappy shit like that- no, no, no, too cliche, he didn't want it to be too saccharine, that wasn't what true killjoys would do.   
They would get to a secluded spot where the music was faintish, faint enough that you can still hear it but if you're really invested in the conversation you can kind of tune it out, like in those autonomous sensory meridian response videos with titles like 'Your Parents Are Arguing Downstairs About Divorce While You're Crying All While Mr. Brightside Plays' except hopefully without the crying part and DEFINITELY without the parents part because they're still in the city living their best life with new, more obedient children-   
Come on, Poison, don't get sidetracked.   
So the music is faint, and you take Ghoul by the hand- no, no, too heartfelt. You look him in the eyes- too threatening! Well what else is he supposed to do, grab him by the neck?!   
Back to the hand idea, not perfect but it'll have to suffice- take him by the hand, look him in- no, no eye contact! Look anywhere else but right into his eyes. Ok, don't do eye contact. Take him by the hand, look anywhere besides his eyes, and- tell him how you feel.   
Tell him how you feel. God, even thinking those words made Poison quake with nervousness. I mean, Poison barely told anything anyone, god forbid anything about himself, so this was a big step for him.  
Oh, and then there was the fact that Poison had, um..   
Never been in an actual relationship.   
He had had many, MANY an opportunity to be "official" with some of the people he's, let's say "boinked", but none of them brought up any interest in him. Which was of course where the rumor that he was aromantic or asexual came up, which wasn't true in the slightest, and Poison never even questioned that. It wasn't a lack of romantic interest, it was just that the romantic interest was in another castle.   
"Hey there!"  
"aAGH!" Poison screeched.  
Show Pony's head hung upside down, but ended up leading to their body which was standing upright right behind where Poison had been sitting.   
"God, you scared the living shit out of me!"   
"Guess I'm pretty good at my job, huh?" Pony giggled.   
"So you're really not talking in that uwu furry speak anymore? Good."  
"Yeah, a promise is a promise, and I got weed out of the real. Besides, talking like that makes my throat feel weird. It's like.. it feels wounder. I mean rounder." Pony skated in a little circle around Poison. still sitting on the cement, shaken half to death. "Anyways, I came out to check on ya, because, not to be rude, champ, but this is kind of a long piss you're taking."   
"I'm not taking a piss, Pony, I'm meticulously planning the dramatic confession scene I'm going to perform at the party tomorrow night."  
"What, on Fun Ghoul?"   
Poison's spine straightened and he jerked his head over, his eyes somehow both widened and narrowed at the same time. "God, does EVERYONE know that I have a crush on him?!"  
"Oh, no, no!" Pony shook their head frantically. "It was just a lucky guess."  
Poison squinted, pursing his lips dubiously.   
"Ok, FINE, I knew. Your brother has looser lips than an open canteen."  
"Ugh, I'll murder him," Poison grumbled. "No I won't. Yes I will. No I won't."   
Pony simply chuckled. "Easy there, champ. Don't overstress yourself. You've already got enough on your plate. You're starting to sound like Jet."  
"Yeesh. That shouldn't be an insult, but you're kinda right."   
"Look," Pony said. "Just play it cool, yeah? Go up to that rat-looking motherfucker and be like "bro, I wanna be with you" and he'll be like "bro" and you'll be like "brooo". Or, OR!! Hit him with a SWEET pickup line, like, uhh… 'I lost my phone number, can I have yours?'"  
"P-" Poison let out a mix of a giggle and a sigh. "Pony, Ghoul doesn't have a phone. Neither do I, and frankly, neither do you. And even if he did have a phone number, I'd have it already. We've known each other for like six years."   
"Well obviously I know that, it was an example."   
"Pony, I'm not trying to pick up guys at a bar, I'm trying to make a confession to my long-lasted crush. I don't know if I can really make you understand."  
Pony was silent for a minute. They exhaled through their nose, and sat up straight, facing Poison. "Just because I don't really understand doesn't mean I can't help you. Judging from yesterday's happenings, you've clearly got something going on, and I don't know how to make you feel better about it, but I feel like this might be it. And I'm not gonna bug you about it, that would just be bad, but I wanna help you because you're cool and have nice hair, plus you're my friend."   
These words processed in Poison's head. A small grin crept across his face. "You think I have nice hair?"   
"Dude, your hair is the nicest of the nice."   
"...Thanks. For real. Thanks."  
Pony smiled wide. "No problem, boblem."   
"Ok, seriously, what are you doing out here?"   
Poison and Pony's heads turned. The door was open, and Jet's head was poking out, eyes, er- eye- darting around. His gaze rested on the two killjoys sitting on the cement.   
"What the.. hell are you two doing?"   
"Oh! It's quite simple you see!" Pony blurted, thinking fast. "Poison wasn't actually-"   
"Just hanging out," Poison said coolly, quickly shutting Pony up. "Why? What are you doing?"   
"Kobra told me to come check on you," Jet answered simply. "Wanted to make sure I wasn't having, and I quote, 'piss problems'."   
"Ew." Show Pony wrinkled their nose.   
Poison snorted. "Well, tell him that I'm fine. We're just chilling."  
"Yeah, Pois isn't having any piss issues," Pony added.  
"Pissues," Poison murmured.   
"First of all, gross," Jet replied, narrowing his eye. "Second of all, come back inside when you're ready. We're getting ready to leave."   
"Geez, already??" Poison expected them to be there longer.   
"I mean, yeah? We're only here to buy stuff. We really shouldn't have been here this long anyway, we just got distracted by the ga's. Plus, wasn't the plan to take a nap today? So we aren't tired tomorrow?"  
"I literally don't remember making that plan, but sounds good."   
"Because you didn't make it." Jet winked, tapping his head with two fingers.   
Poison pouted. That was his job!  
Soon, Jet had disappeared back inside.   
"Sounds like you gotta go, champ," Pony said.   
"Yeah, I guess I should- wait, why have you been calling me champ? That's new."   
"Cherri pointed out that calling you babe might trigger your dysphoria," Pony replied, a twinge of embarrassment in their voice. "And I figured maybe I shouldn't do that."   
"I mean, I like it," Poison said. "But like, babe is fine. You're good."   
"Ahh, cool." Pony sounded relieved. "It's just not everyone is ok with that."   
"That's true, but I am. You're allowed to call me a babe because, hell, I am one."   
"Hell YEAH you are!!" Pony exclaimed. They lowered their voice. "Sure hope Ghoul agrees."   
"Fuck, dude, you and me both."   
From behind Poison, you could hear the screen door swing open, again. For a moment, Poison's heart stopped.   
"Hey, Pony, could you stop holding my friend hostage? It's kind of inconvenient."   
Poison's eyes were wide in a panicked state. He looked at Pony wildly, mouthing 'say something!'   
"Uhh.." Show Pony's gaze flashed. "Uhh, yeah, sure, gotta go!"  
At that point Poison realized why Pony wore rollerblades wherever they went- for an easy escape from a firefight, or in this case, a painfully awkward conversation.   
Pony skated off into the sun. It was just Poison and Ghoul.   
"We gotta go," Ghoul said lowly.   
"Y-yeah, ok."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey gamers!! This is more of a calm-before-the-storm chapter, so it's not that intense or anything, but I hoped you enjoyed it anyway!


	14. THE DREADED PARTY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the moment you've all been waiting for.   
> Trigger warnings: alcohol, mentions of nsfw content, cliffhanger, minors drinking.

CHAPTER 14.  
THE DREADED PARTY.

The day before the dreaded party didn't really go as planned. At all.

Poison had planned to make a plan for what to do at the party while the others were busy at Tommy's shop, but naturally that didn't last too fucking long.   
After that his plan B was to stay up while the others were asleep and make a plan during that time, like a child who wants to sneak off and read picture books during nap time in pre school, but then Jet caught him awake because of course he left his fucking door open like an idiot. So, to make a long fucking story short, Jet basically threatened to eat Poison's shoes if he didn't get some fucking rest. 

And after the fab 4 all got some sleep, the day was pretty much entirely wasted. 

Poison pretty much blinked, and then there he was. At the party. Without a plan. 

The sun hadn't even set yet and the party was already POPPING. Everyone Poison had ever MET was there, and everyone was drinking like the witch was coming to pluck their masks RIGHT off their faces. 

That of course included Poison. Don't worry, it wasn't like, peer pressure or anything like that. Poison had planned on drinking while he was there. 

I mean, he wasn't exactly planning on.. 

Well, we'll see about all that later, won't we. 

Even for The Nest's standards, this party was a… wild one. These killjoys, these junkies and ritalin rats who attended the nest literally whenever it was open to get fucked up and not have to think about the impending threat of the supercorporation next door, they were withdrawn from the drug that is partying. But they're back, and they came back STRONG.

Poison was downing his fourth or fifth shot of whatever Show Pony had brought to the bar. Fourth? Fifth?? Whatever, numbers aren't real, intoxication is a mental construct, and life is fleeting. Poison gargled the shot before it washed down his throat, and it burned so fucking bad, but it got Kobra laughing like a madman, which made Poison laugh, which made Poison almost choke on his own shot. That, in turn, only made Kobra laugh harder, while on Poison's other side, Jet fretted and tried to get him to spit it out.   
When Poison finally spat the shot out (which in turn made his entire mouth burn like the nine circles), it made a person in front of him flinch violently, almost like they had never gotten spit on before. Was this person fresh into the zones??? You can barely go a day in the zones without getting spat on by some bitter ritalin rat or angry wavehead- though in this case it was neither of those, it was the most famous motherfucker in the zones. 

Party Poison's eyes shot up. No fucking way.

"Oh, hello Party Poison." 

"B-Bug," Poison stuttered, trying to sound like a mature adult through the alcohol in his veins. "Why are you here?" 

"Uhh, because everyone is? Ha." Bug is short as always, his short black hair pushed back. Either it's the alcohol rushing to his head or Poison can see he has a green streak now, which is new. He looks tanner than he did before, even in a week's time, and he's switched out his flannel for a leather jacket that admittedly looked SICK, and he no longer looked like a 13 year old at his first Green Day concert. 

"You're like- 12, aren't you?? You shouldn't be here," Jet said, in his concerned mom voice.

"..Dude, I literally turned fifteen last summer." 

Poison raised his eyebrows. "..Oh! Sorry, it's just that you're.. uhm..." 

"Short. I know. I'm 5'2. It's a tragedy." Bug sighed, and for the first time Poison got a good look at his eyes- 

Holy fuck is he wearing eyeliner??

Kobra, who had been silent for most of the conversation, placed a hand on Poison's shoulder, which was a calmer way of telling him to shut the fuck up. "If you're almost 15 you should be fine. Just be responsible, and try not to die." 

"Yeah, don't be like me, ha," Poison said, stuttering a little mid-sentence. 

Jet nudged Poison, hard. 

Poison didn't get the hint. He just nudged Jet back, even harder, with an intense eye roll and a wave to Pony, who was standing a few seats away and was handing out drinks. They filled up a shot glass and gracefully slid it over to Poison, not a drop spilling.  
"Thanks, my thude." Poison picked up the shot glass and down the shot went. "So, how've ya been, Bug? How have the last few days been treating ya?" 

"Not gonna lie? Pretty damn good," Bug replied, and his eyes did that starry thing again. "My gang and I have been getting along well. And I have a cool jacket now. Even a jacket makes life a lot better."

"Yeah, you look fly as fuck dude," Kobra said, and of course Poison of all people could tell that he meant it. "Your hair kinda looks like Ghoul's. Did it always look like that? Did I just not notice??" 

"Oh, wow, yeah," Poison replied. It was true. There was a resemblance. Was Bug Italian??? Hard to tell.   
"Oh yeah, that's at least partly purposeful," Bug replied. "It was kinda by accident but this piece of hair just kinda fell into place and I was like, dang that looks good, and then it was so." 

"Huh. Neat, I guess." Kobra didn't seem to care too terribly much, or at least he cared less than Poison. To Poison, this was a dilemma! Ghoul was GHOUL! Often imitated never duplicated!

"Where is Ghoul, anyway?" Bug asked, taking a sip from a Mike's lemonade that must've been given to him by Pony. "I wanna say hi. Shouldn't he be with you three?" 

"Yeah, actually, where is Ghoul?" Jet repeated. "I haven't seen him since we got here. He kinda disappeared."

"I think he went to the basement," Poison answered. "They're smoking down there, you can smell it through the floorboards." 

"Ewwww." Kobra wrinkled his nose. 

"Kobe, who are you to talk?? You smoke too," Jet chided.

"Yeah, but at least I do it outside." 

"That is.. literally even worse."

"Anyways," Kobra said, changing the subject. "Poison, you should probably go talk to Ghoul before you get too drunk to function or he gets too high to function." 

"I'll do it soon, Kobra's brother assured.

Kobra's eyes narrowed. "How soon is soon?" 

Poison threw his hands in the air. "I dunno! Soon!!"

Bug, a teenager who doesn't care about adults' problems and who clearly wasn't paying attention, was now leaning against the bar counter, continuing to sip from his Mike's. "So, you guys wanna meet my gang?" 

"Sure, yes, let's do that." Poison nodded furiously, eager to go do something else. 

"I think they're outside hanging out in a cloud of secondhand smoke. You'll love them. Follow me." 

Poison nodded again, and gestured to the other two killjoys to follow Bug. They all got out of their seats as the shortest joy led them outside, while Pony frantically attempted to finish Kobra's drink before he got back.

..and Bug's gang was exactly what Poison expected. They were like.. bitty babies. Bite-size killjoys. Like if you took a normal killjoy gang (if there was even such thing) and like, stretched it down in photoshop. 

"Sup," said one killjoy, who was somehow even shorter than Bug, with fiery orange hair that looked like what 2000s movies thought ginger hair looked like. Rocking a puffy black bomber jacket over a pink dress shirt, which was definitely a look Poison could get behind. When did kids get good fashion sense? That wasn't allowed. 

There were four total, Bug included. One had impossibly messy brown hair, a round face with wide eyes like a baby deer, and sharp teeth that stuck out, but in an endearing way. Another had their hood up so Poison couldn't even see their hair, pale, almost pallid skin, and big round glasses that would make John Lennon jealous. The other two were Bug and the redhead.

"That's Bew," Bug said, pointing to the one with brown hair. "And Velvie, and the orange haired one is Tang." 

"Sheesh, is this what killjoy names are these days?" Poison said without thinking. 

Jet nudged Poison again. "Don't be rude," he hissed.   
"Right. Very nice to, uh, make your acquaintance. My name i-"

"We already know your name," Tang interrupted. "You're Party Poison." 

"Legend of the zones," Velvie continued. Their voice was soft, like a butterfly's wing, but Tang's was more sour. 

"Poster child of the rebellion against BL/ind," Bug added, jumping on the bandwagon. 

The last member of Bug's gang was Bew. The three older killjoys' eyes were on them. They just nodded.   
"Bew doesn't speak much," Bug explained. "But we love them anyway. Right, Bew?" 

Bew smiled a toothy grin. 

"Aww, you kids are adorable!" Jet exclaimed. "You'll be the most formidable killjoys on this side of Battery City, I can feel it." 

"Oh yeah," Tang agreed, "The witch knows we're coming for Bli's throat once we get big. Metaphorically and literally." 

"The witch knows, eh?" Poison chuckled. "Well, I'll be sure to ask her." 

Jet flashed Poison an urgent glare. 

"C'mon, I'm joking." 

"Seriously, Poison, I think you should go talk to Ghoul. It's been fun, Bug, but Party Poison has to go do important gang leader things." 

"Yknow, now that I'm a gang leader myself, I realized that you really don't get that many privileges. You just have more people asking you for more things."

"WOW, if that ain't a mood," Poison stuttered. 

"It's big kid stuff. You'll understand when you're older." 

"I'm 15, I know what-" Bug called, as Kobra rushed Poison inside. 

Kobra wasn't much taller than Poison normally, but when he got serious, it was like he grew taller. At that point, Kobra was towering over Poison. 

"Are you gonna do it?" 

Poison hiccuped. "Do what?" 

"Tell Ghoul you're in love with him, dumbass!"

"Ahh, yeah, that," Poison replied. "I promise I'll do it soon. I wanna say hi to Rev first. And her girlfriend."   
"Alright, fine, that's valid. But you gotta do it tonight, capiche? I don't wanna have to force you to tell him, but I absolutely will if prompted."

"Got it. See ya, bro!" 

"Wait, Poison-" 

But Poison had already ran off. Off to find his cousin and her girlfriend. They would be performing soon, which was exciting. 

Aghh, and all of a sudden Poison's head hurts like hell. It would probably pass soon, but at that moment Poison was just- in pain. And it wasn't helping him locate Rev. 

In the city Rev would've stuck out like a sore thumb, but in a nest party, where the entire house is full of whack jobs, it's kind of hard to locate one particular goth girl. 

He tugged on the leather sleeve of one gothy-looking girl who he thought had similar hair to Rev, from what he remembered, only for her to turn around and reveal a full beard. Poison wasn't exactly surprised, after all, there were a ton of Dr. Gender Defyings in the zones. 

"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, I'm looking for Sweet Revenge, the leader of the Caskettes, do you know where I might be able to find her?" 

"Oh, you mean the singer for Bad Words? Yeah, she's here," the bearded lady replied. "She and her band are tuning their instruments on the side of the pit. Pretty sure they're the next act."

"Thank you so much, ma'am, I owe you my life," Poison said, his voice faltering in his drunkenness. Why'd he say that? Why did he say that??

"You're welcome. Good luck with your goth band." 

Poison's head was still hurting, but now he knew where to go, so that at least made it a little better. The pit was essentially the massive, fenced backyard of the nest, but everyone liked to pretend it was some fancy-schmancy concert hall because it made the bands feel like less of a joke. So, the caskettes being on 'the side of the pit' essentially meant they were leaned against a fence tuning their guitars. 

The sun was already setting outside, and the orange light beamed down on the sand, and the pavement, and Poison, and-

The caskettes!

"YOOOOO!" Poison hollered. 

Someone's head turned up. "Party Poison!"

"Rev! Great to see you!" Poison ran over to Rev and skidded on the sand. 

"So glad you could make it-" Rev got a good look at Poison's face and her eyebrows raised. "Whoa, you're already plastered."

"I know! Isn't it great?"

"...Sure." Sweet Revenge licked her lips. "Uhh, our set is pretty soon. Didja get my note? I dunno if I should have expected that pony-express twink to deliver it safely." 

"Yeah, I got it! Show Pony is totally trustful," Poison chirped. 

"Ahh, good. So, you.. gonna do the thing?" 

"The thing? Ohh, yeah, the thing!" Poison recalled. "Yeah, uh, that'll probably happen tonight. Hopefully. If I stop procrastinating and step my pussy up and do it. In fact, I'm procrastinating right now, by being out here and talking to you, instead of doing the thing that I'm here to do. Ha."

Rev sat in silence for a hot second. Her guitar was in her lap, and when she went limp it slid out onto the sand. 

"..Let me go get Mari," she said finally, and got up without another word. 

Mari? Was that short for Mariah? If it was, then it was excitement time!! Poison had wanted to officially meet Mariah ever since he knew about her existence. Which was like 3 days, but that wasn't the point. 

Soon the clicking of heels on pavement and the sound of the screen door swinging back open with a loud, screechy creak alerted Poison that his cousin had returned, holding the hand of another girl with curly dark brown hair in two poofy ponytails, dyed red at the ends.

The other girl squinted at Poison, eyeing him, sizing him up, as if seeing if he was a worthy opponent. She turned to Rev and made a motion with her hands, like pouring a bottle sideways. 

Rev giggled. "Yeah." 

Poison.. wasn't about to question that, actually. "You must be Mariah." 

The girl who was apparently named Mariah nodded cheerily. Her and Rev's hands were interlocked.

"Yeah, I dunno if you forgot, but she can't speak. She can hear just fine though." 

"Gotcha." 

So what Mariah had been doing before was ASL. Poison didn't know much ASL. He knew his ABCs, and he knew how to sign his name, and that was pretty much the extent of it. He had tried to learn it, because of all the Helium War vets who had hearing damage from bombs and other calamity, and trust me, he really tried, but learning disabilities are fun like that. 

"Alright. So what are you going to do?" Rev asked in a tone that was like, half-encouraging, but it also had like a twinge of bad cop interrogation energy? Maybe Rev just always had that energy. 

"I'm gonna tell Fun Ghoul I have a big ol crush on him!!!"

"And what are you gonna do if he says yes??" 

"I'm gonna give him a big ol kiss on the cheek!! Unless he doesnt want to do that!!! Then just holding hands is fine!!!!"

Rev nodded. "And what are you going to do if he says no??" 

"..I dunno, actually! Probably die, to be honest!!!" 

Apparently that wasn't the answer Rev was looking for, because that statement was met with a slap to the fucking face. 

"OW!" Poison shrieked. "WHAT IS WITH YOU AND SLAPPING ME WHEN I MAKE BAD DECISIONS???" 

"SO YOU RECOGNIZE THAT IS A BAD CONCLUSION TO COME TO," Rev yelled back, "AND YOU STILL WENT WITH IT??" 

"I DUNNO MAN, THE ONLY OTHER OPTION WOULD BE TO MOVE ON," Poison yelled in response. 

"SO THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GONNA DO IF HE SAYS NO, YOU DIPPY!" 

"AAAAH!!"

"AAAAAAH!!!"

Suddenly, Mariah stood up and walked between Poison and Rev. She did a quick gesture that involved putting her two hands out in front of her, flat, like the first move of the macarena. Rev noticeably calmed down. 

"What did that mean?" 

"Essentially, she wants us to calm down," Rev answered plainly. She tucked a lock of black hair behind her ear. "You really are my better half, aren't you, dear?" 

Mariah nodded, her cheerful face brightening up the dark pit, and she leaned over to plant a cherry kiss on her girlfriend's pallid cheek, causing her to flush bright red. 

"Ewww, gross!" Poison's noise wrinkled. 

"You might say that now, but in a hot minute you might be getting some of that action yourself," Rev sneered, sticking out her tongue in Poison's direction (which directly caused Poison to see her tongue piercing, which he had never noticed.) Mariah also turned to face Poison, throwing him a wink and a smirk, which made Poison a little uncomfortable. 

The music that had been blasting in the background was slowly fading out, with the last buzz of an electric guitar sounding down to a stop. Party Poison had managed to tune it out. The Nosebleed Boys managed to get a spot on the setlist every single time, and Poison had no idea why. They weren't good. They just got on the setlist because what they did was objectively funny. Well, not objectively, per se. Objectively funny to everyone except Party Poison. (The jokes they made in their songs were 99% at his expense, all of the time.)

"That's our cue to go, Pois," Rev said, and suddenly, her voice seemed like it cared. That was rare in the zones. Being raised in an uncaring desert meant most people didn't care, so for Poison, hearing his cousin speak so meaningfully was.. comforting. "You gonna be ok on your own?" 

"I think I'll be alright," Poison replied. His head still ached, but he'd be ok. "Whatever happens happens, yeah?"

"Whatever gets you through the night," Rev mused, the care in her voice still there. "Go kill it, ok? Actually, wait. Don't kill it. That's a bad idea. Uhhh.. love it." 

"We'll see what happens. Have a good time onstage, you funky little rockstars," he finished. 

"Good luck, cuz," Rev replied, blowing him a kiss. In informal contrast, Mariah did finger guns. 

"..Does that mean anything in asl?" 

"Nope. Just finger guns."

"Cool." Poison did finger guns back, and without another word, he rushed inside.

 

***

 

This was a HUGE party. So huge, in fact, that Poison was almost uncomfortable, which NEVER happened! EVER. Poison didn't GET uncomfortable. 

Except now, I guess. 

Poison's eyes darted around, desperately looking for the entrance to the basement. How was he supposed to know where it was? It's not like he ever went down there. The entire room reeked of pot, which was not something Poison was particularly fond of. 

Seriously, the ENTIRE HOUSE was full to the brim. Like sardines. It was kind of horrifying. He had never seen the nest so full- then again, when was the last time the nest had closed? 

Party Poison spent a while narrowly avoiding people asking him questions, while his eyes darted around for the door to the basement. 

Suddenly, there was a large crash, followed by the clattering of broken glass. Seems like the entire nest fell quiet for a moment, a beautiful moment of total silence, before panic ensued. 

There were people who ran outside to escape the havoc. There were people who ran TO the havoc to see what was going on. The majority was like Poison, people who just stood around, not knowing what was going on. 

Poison tapped on the shoulder of a dark-haired killjoy in a sparkly corset. "Excuse me, could you tell me what's all the panic about??" 

The dark-haired killjoy turned back to Poison, her eyeliner-clad eyes full of despair. "Oh caro ragazzo dai capelli rossi, c'è stata un'esplosione in cucina!" These words came out fast, and im somewhat of a murmur, in a language that Poison could identify as Italian because of how often Ghoul murmured to himself in his birth language.

A curly pink-haired girl behind her placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, everything is alright. Someone set off a firework in the kitchen. Nobody's hurt." The pink-haired girl planted a kiss on her Italian datemate's cheek to calm them down and they walked out onto the porch together, holding hands. 

Awww. Alright, stay focused, Poison! Gotta find the basement while everyone's distracted!  
There was the basement door. It ended up actually being a trapdoor. A trapdoor in the floor! What basement has a trapdoor?!?

The trapdoor swung open with a loud creak that sounded a lot like Kobra when there was a bug nearby. The opening of the door revealed a (equally creaky) staircase that looked as if you could get splinters just by looking at it. Treading lightly, he descended the steps, and got caught in a cloud of secondhand weed smoke. 

A small cough escaped his lips. This really was where all the potheads hung out, huh? 

A grizzled-looking tall killjoy with tan skin was the first to take notice of Party Poison. "Hey look, boys, we gotta newcomah to the basement!" He exclaimed. He was followed by a chorus of various "heys" and "hellos" from the other joys. 

"Hey, I don't wanna interrupt whatever you guys are doing, but do you have any idea where Fun Ghoul might be? I was told he'd be down here." 

"Fun Ghoul?" Growled a short, stocky man with an eyepatch and a stubbly beard. Seriously, these guys looked straight out of the Salty Spitoon. "Ahh, that son of a bitch.. he owes me a pack of ciggies. What's it to you?" 

"Ahh, calm down Crow, y'old bastard, the kid just wants t'find his friend," said the first, taller killjoy. "Or maybe enemy. Are you lookin' for Ghoulie so ya can ghost him? Cause if so, yer not knowin'. Ghoulie's a good kid." 

Poison was kind of surprised these guys didn't immediately recognize him. Maybe they just weren't part of that generation. "Uhhh, yeah no, we're.. yeah, we're friends," Poison assured. "So can you tell me where I can find him?" 

"Ghoul was down here for most of the party, so whoevah led ya down here wasn't entirely wrong," the taller man explained. "He and us boys play poker together sometimes. I think he did a shot too many, cause maybe thirty or so minutes ago he said he was feelin a little woozy and that he was goin' out for some fresh air." 

"Mags, I'm tellin ya, the kid just got out because he was losin'!"

"Ahh, shut your trap and calm your tits, Crow, Ghoulie has good intentions, he wouldn't do somethin like that unless he really had to," the taller of the two killjoys, who was apparently named Mags, and the other Crow, crossed his arms (which were lowkey jacked as hell).   
"Heh, Ghoul has never been one to back down from a fight," Poison agreed. 

"So, kid, if you're lookin' for Fun Ghoul, I suggest checkin' outside, maybe on the front porch." 

"Thank you so much, sir!," Poison exclaimed. "Oh, I mean.. thanks. I owe you one." 

As Poison started to turn around to head upstairs, Mags said "Wait."

"Yes, sir?" Poison turned back around. 

"You look kinda familiar.. I recognize that mugga yours." Mags scratched his chin. "Oh, I know! You look just like the guy on my son's poster! Are you.. hold on, what do the kids call it.. are you cosplaying him?"   
"Uhh, sure," Poison answered, not particularly wanting to tell Mags the truth. "I didn't realize you had a son, are they here?" 

"They sure are," Mags said dreamily. "Probably hangin' out with those little friends of theirs.. if you see them, come down and tell me how they're doin'. I think they're sellin' drinks. They've got curly blonde hair, their mothah's eyes.. their face brightens up the whole room. You'll know em when you see em."

Something about that description struck a chord in Poison's mind. Some kind of familiarity, but the kind he'd think he'd want to forget. Maybe he knew them from the city or something. 

"Well, I'll keep an eye out for them. Thanks again sir!"   
"No problem, kiddo. Have fun doing whatever you're trying to do." 

"Well, hopefully I will."

Then Poison was gone. Up the creaky stairs, out the creaky trapdoor, onto the porch. 

Ghoul was nowhere to be found.. yet.

Poison's eyes darted around, searching for signs of life.

There he was. 

Sitting atop the head of the Destroya, the smoke from what Poison assumed to be a cigarette billowing into the sky.

"FUN GHOULLLLLL!" Poison yelled. 

The silhouette's head turned. Yep, it was Ghoul alright. Even from afar, in the darkness, Poison could recognize that mug anywhere. 

"Yeah??" The silhouette called back. 

"Mind if I join you?" 

Ghoul paused. "Sure." 

"Cool."

Poison ran over to the Destroya head like his life depended on it. Ghoul was cross-legged up there, the only light being the glow of his cigarette and the pale moonlight. 

Already, Poison's heart is beating out of his chest. 

"You need help climbing up here, bro? I mean, you don't exactly have my superhuman climbing abilities."   
"Dude, I'm totally getting deja vu right now and I feel like if you try to help me I'll end up almost falling to my death. I think I'm ok climbing up there by myself."  
And so he did. In an array of movements, the red haired killjoy heaved himself atop the Destroya. Both killjoys were silent. 

"You ok?" Poison asked. 

Ghoul took a lengthy drag from his cig. He blinked twice and took in a big breath. 

"So, you remember that twink I flirted with to get drugs?" He said finally.

"Uhh, yeah? I kinda wanted to forget." 

"Well, their name is Larkie, for one." Huh. I guess Poison couldn't call them Curlyboy anymore. "Second of all, I guess they didn't forget about me, because I ran into them on my way out here and they totally tried to kiss me."

"Oh," Poison replied, his heart skipping a beat. Oh god, oh god, oh my god, fucking god, god, god no. "Is that a.. good or bad thing?"

"Neither really. But if I had to choose? Bad." Ghoul chuckled, but nothing was funny. 

"I'm.. sorry," Poison replied again, not really knowing how to feel. 

"It's ok, it's not a big deal. I was on my way out to get some air and I ran into them and they were clearly loaded because they were super giggly and kept hiccuping. So then this one song came on and they put my arms around my neck and I kinda broke away and was like. 'Hey, I don't really want to do this.' So they apologized a million times and I was like, cool, don't do it again. And now I'm here." 

"Ugh, I hate it when that happens," Poison sighed. "It just- it be like that sometimes. You sure you're ok?"   
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good! For real." Ghoul grinned, his mouth scar moving up with his lips. 

Poison and Ghoul's hands are right next to each other, and Poison's hands are shaking like hell. Ghoul's pinky stretches over to touch Poison's finger, just barely. It's enough to make Poison's heart pound out of his chest. 

Come on. Just do it. You can do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. 

"Oh yeah, Ghoul?" Oh god, he's really gonna do it, isn't he? 

"Yeah?" Ghoul's eyes are all on Poison. 

"Uh, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while n-" 

Poison doesn't get to finish his thought. 

All of a sudden, Ghoul is kissing the living hell out of him.


	15. Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something's wrong.  
> SOMETHING'S WRONG.  
> Chapter warnings: affection, mention of mental illness in a negative manner, drunk characters interacting

Chapter 15 - 

It took Party Poison a hot second to realize it, but he was actually, full-on kissing Ghoul. 

No, really. It was full on HAPPENING. Not a dream, not a mirage. He's here. They're here. Playing tonsil hockey on top of the remains of a dead god. 

Pressed up against the black-haired killjoy, flushed a tomato red brighter than his hair (or at least he thought he was blushing. It was hard to tell, since his eyes were closed.) It felt like something straight out of a dream. 

And even though it wasn't the first time they had kissed, it.. felt better, than any other time. It felt realer. Like something might actually happen because of it this time. Ghoul's lips were slimy, and Poison could taste the alcohol and cigarettes he's been taking in all night, but truly, he couldn't have asked for a better kiss. 

Ghoul pushed in closer, moving his hands from Poison's cheeks, down to his shoulders, then down to his waist. He broke away from the kiss for a moment, maybe to give Poison a chance to catch his breath. Poison panted for a moment, and they locked eyes as soon as they both opened them. Ghoul grinned in that stupid way of his, the way that drove Poison crazy. Poison chuckled, nervous, but excited.

And then they started devouring each other again. Neither of them needed to say anything at all. They were both too immersed in the moment to speak, to even think.

Ghoul pulled Poison ever closer, his hands moving once more to stretch around Poison's back (it seemed he tended to move his hands around a lot, which he also did all the time when he was talking, in classic Italian fashion).

A state of euphoria. That was what was going on. Party Poison felt immortal, he felt invincible, nothing could stop him, nothing at all. At that point, life literally couldn't be better. 

The second time, it was Poison who broke away, grinning even bigger. 

"You liked that a whole lot." Ghoul smirked. 

And since Poison was too euphoric and drunk to process anything, his only response was a fit of happy nods and giddy giggles. 

"Ahh, you pretty little thing," Ghoul mused, turning back to Poison. "Now what was it you wanted to tell me?" 

Poison obvious wasn't quite thinking straight. A combination of utter euphoria and drunkenness did not make for intact thoughts. 

"I'm in love with you." 

Poison didn't realize what he said, not immediately anyway. It took him a second to realize the weight of what he said and the fact that it may have an affect on Ghoul. 

After saying this, Poison leaned back in to start kissing again, because now he was getting needy, but to his surprise, Ghoul moved away. 

Ghoul looked shocked. "What?"

Poison's expression quickly morphed from dreamy to one of surprise. "You're surprised?"

."I… what?? You mean that???" Ghoul's mood seemed to change at the flick of a wrist. One minute he was kissing the living hell out of Party Poison, the next minute he can't even bear to look at him.

"I mean? Yeah?? Why would I not mean it???" 

Ghoul was silent. What a dramatic turn of events, Poison thought. 

"I.. don't know how to respond to that," Ghoul replied honestly. 

"I'm sorry." 

Ghoul started climbing down the Destroya, still not daring to look Poison in the eye. 

"Wait, where are you-" 

"We'll talk about this more tomorrow, when we're both sober, okay?" Ghoul's voice getting fainter and fainter. "I'll see you around."

***  
At that point, what could Poison do?

He had just went from top of the sky right down to rock bottom. It felt horrible. It was like he was actually, physically sick. He felt like shit, to be blunt.

There he was, the legendary Party Poison, sitting atop the head of the Destroya, sweating vodka and sobbing into the night like the little pissbaby that he is. 

Nobody was there to see him in this state. Which was probably the only silver lining to any of this. 

Poison bowed his head, running his fingers through his hair, not really sure what to do now. He tried to think about Kobra, but somehow, it was hard to think about anything except how awful this night was turning out to be. 

Poison jumped down from the top of the Destroya to the sandy ground beneath the head, not even caring if he injured himself, even though he didn't, really. He started walking towards the nest. 

He walked inside, eyes darting around.

"Hey, Pois," Poison's brother greeted, holding his hands up, looking not sober but still alive enough to say hello. "You look beat."

"Thanks, I am," Poison replied exhaustedly. 

"What happened?"

Poison gave his brother a long, defeated stare. "Take a wild fucking guess." 

"Oh. Oh no."

Kobra wasn't nosy, which was a good thing in this scenario, because it meant that Poison had no need to inform him of exactly what just happened. Frankly, he didn't really want anyone to know. 

"I'm assuming it.. didn't go well, then."

Poison sniffled, nodding. He wasn't about to cry again, not in front of all these people. But this was probably the closest he'd get. 

Kobra put his arms around Poison, gently patting him on the back. "It'll be ok." 

Party Poison was understandably upset. But what was about to happen, nobody could predict, and nobody could forgive. 

"Will it?" The red-haired killjoy spat. "Or are you just saying that?" 

Kobra's eyes widened. "Poison, what-"  
"I'm not here for your pity, Kobra Kid."  
Kobra covered his mouth with his hand. Seems like he was at a loss for words. "Geez, Pois, I was just trying to-" 

"You were trying to what? You were trying to make me feel better? You were trying to assure me that none of this matters? You were trying to coddle me like a baby?"

"Pois, I'm just trying to-"

"Grow up, Kobra Kid, this isn't middle school."

Kobra sighed. Keeping his composure, for the moment. Poison was upset, he was having a rough night, it made sense that he would be acting like a prick.

"I'm not trying to coddle you, I'm trying to let you know that it's not the end of the world just because Ghoul doesn't like you back." 

Poison scoffed with an eye roll. "I fucking know that, dipshit."

"Hey, hey, don't fucking talk to me like that!"

Poison paused. What was that? Kobra Kid, standing up for himself. That's new. 

Poison grinned. It wasn't a good grin, in fact, a bad one. A grin so bad it meant no good for anyone. "Listen here you little-"

"Listen, Party Poison, I don't want trouble. You're drunk. We should go home and talk about this in the morning."

"And if tomorrow never comes?" Poison was still smiling like an anchor on Fact News, and it was starting to creep Kobra the fuck out. "Better Living Industries could wipe us away like dust off a fucking jacket. They have the power to, they have the money to. We're just biding time now, at any fucking moment we could disappear off the face of the earth, just like they did to mom, and Mike Milligram, and everyone who got ghosted out here during the fucking wars." 

Kobra had no idea what Poison was going on about at this point, but whatever was going on, it was really fucked up. "Poison, you need to shut the fuck up and listen to yourself for a second." 

Poison gasped. What? What??? Kobra never did this. He was never like this. Kobra rarely got serious, because serious Kobra was scary.

"You're acting fucking psychotic, Party Poison. I think YOU'RE the one who needs to grow up."

"Kobra-" 

"I said SHUT UP," Kobra yelled again. "Look dude, if you wanna sulk about your unrequited love and rant about the apocalypse, do it by yourself. If you're not gonna actually listen to me, and you're gonna snap at me and act like a three year old, you can just fucking get out of here and do it to someone else." 

Through the dark cutouts of his brother's mask, Kobra could see intimidation and anger. However, no more than a fucking second later, Party Poison started.... giggling to himself. 

For real. Giggling. Something was so funny to him that he couldn't stop. Poison was doubled over because of something, but Kobra wasn't sure what. 

"What are you doing? What's so funny?" Kobra asked, his face slightly crinkled, clearly confused. 

Poison kept laughing, louder and louder, as he started walking in the opposite direction. "See you later, Kobra." 

Poison didn't look back as he walked away. Who cares? Poison didn't care. Poison didn't care about anything or anyone. 

Up the stairs he goes, still giggling all the way up.  
The bathroom door closed, and Poison turned the lock. Party Poison slumped down onto the grimey tile floor, against the wall covered in faded graffiti and grout. 

Poison carefully pulled off his yellow domino mask. 

Ahh, it felt good to be able to see clearly. 

Unfortunately for him, as well as everyone else involved, that was the only minorly good feeling Poison would feel for the rest of the night. 

It was gonna be a long one.


	16. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kobra finds out.  
> Warning: this chapter contains themes of alcoholism, mild eye gore, and death.

Chapter 16 - Interlude  
It had been 40 minutes since the Kobra Kid last saw his brother, and he was starting to get worried. Looking back on it, those were probably the longest 40 minutes of his life.  
Kobra's obviously shitfaced, all of them are, but it's weird, because usually Kobra was able to hold his liquor well. He's tall. And lanky. Those are two characteristics that don't usually make for an easy drunkard. Ever since he got in that fight with Poison, he'd been- weaker.  
He didn't like to fight with his brother, that was for sure. But the lack of closure left a big empty hole there where his confidence usually went.  
"You're gonna pass out soon, Kobes," Show Pony mused as he poured out another round for Kobra and a couple of strangers.  
"To be honest? I don't mind," Kobra replied honestly. He laughed to himself, and it wasn't funny. "Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and.. Poison will wake up, and we'll forget anything happened."  
"Pois doesn't forget easily, Kobra Kid. And you really yelled at him. I'd remember that any day. Even if I was shitfaced."  
"Are you not shitfaced?"  
"Eh. Not really a fan of hard liquor. I'm content with a mike's hard lemonade and a kiss on the cheek."  
Kobra squinted. "That doesn't make any sense."  
"Yeah, well, neither does anything around here. Or anyone."  
Kobra was silent for a moment. Considerations swirling in his drunk little brain.  
"I think I'm gonna check on Poison. He went upstairs, right?"  
"God, Kobra, you know he's just gonna yell at you."  
"I don't care," Kobra said bluntly. "I wanna know if he's okay. He's had a rough night."  
Show Pony visibly piped up. "Oh, my god, right! He-"  
"Yeah, apparently he did and it didn't go well. Which is where all this started from."  
"Do you know where Ghoul went? I'm sure this is just as hard for him as it is for Pois."  
"No idea. I checked the basement already and he wasn't there. He may have gone home." Kobra scratched his chin.  
“Hmm.” Show Pony thought for a moment. "But the trans am is still parked outside? He wouldn’t have taken the car with him, would he?”  
“Dunno. Can he even drive??”  
“Not well. He’s crashed that fucker more times than I can count.”  
“Can you even count?”  
“We’re getting distracted!” Pony exclaimed. “We gotta figure out what happened to Ghoul, and what happened to Party, and we should probably find Jet because he’ll know what to do better than we do!”  
“Are you kidding? Jet will flip the fuck out if he knows about any of this!”  
“So what are you going to do, NOT tell your dear friend about your other dear friend’s seeming disappearance and your brother’s possible mental issues? He deserves to know, also he’s the only one of us three who isn’t a dumbass and once he stops freaking the fuck out he might actually be able to help us.”  
“That is true..” Kobra considered. “Alright, fine. We’ll go talk to him.”  
***  
“I’m sorry, WHAT happened!?!?!?”  
Jet is… in shock. Unsurprisingly.  
"So yeah, the gist is.. Poison's gone, Ghoul is gone, we don't know where either of them are, Poison is really upset and yelled at me.. yeah."  
Jet ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes wide, pacing around the empty porch.  
"Kobe is right, that's the situation," Pony assured.  
"No no, I'm not doubting you, I'm just…. what???" Jet replied.  
"Yeah, we kinda need your help. To look for them. And also to make sure neither of them die."  
"Hoooo, okay." Jet took a deep breath and did a little gesture that was in the shape of a sigil to the witch. "Let's.. split up."  
Pony's face lit up. "It's like an episode of scooby doo!"  
"Sure, whatever. Let's split up, and look.. Pony and I will look for Ghoul outside, since according to them he never came inside.. and Kobra, you go upstairs to look for your bro."  
Kobra sighed. "Jet, he doesn't want to see me right now."  
"I guarantee he doesn't wanna see anyone else, either. He trusts you the most, Kobe. He always has."  
Kobra sighed. Maybe Jet was right. No matter how much Poison didn't want to see his little brother, it was still him who had been by his side since the beginning. They could never stay mad at each other, not for more than a day.  
"Well?" Pony asked, standing with their hands on their hips.  
"...Alright. I'll do it."  
Jet nodded. "Good. We've got everything sorted out. Let's go."  
"Wait! Where do we go if we found someone?"  
"Easy. We'll bring them here. We'll reconvene after an hour or so."  
Kobra chuckled.  
"What's funny, Kobra?"  
"Why is Poison leader instead of you?"  
Jet grinned. "Poison is bossier. And has better hair."  
"Fair enough."  
"Alright gang, enough messing around. Let's go."  
And go they did! Kobra went up the stairs while Pony and Jet explored the dark desert outside. Even after he got inside Kobra could faintly hear them calling Ghoul's name.  
Ascending the creaky stairs, pushing past the crowds of people. Kobra took his aviator sunglasses off and shoved them in his back pocket so he could see better.  
Everyone here looks the same. In the dark, everyone looks the fucking same. Why does Poison have to be so popular? Why do all these schmucks have to copy his fucking hairstyle?? Kobra might as well be colorblind in this situation.  
"Hey there, sugar."  
Kobra felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around.  
"Hey."  
Standing before Kobra was a tall woman- and when I say tall, I mean like, 6'2. With long black hair and more piercings than Kobra could count.  
"Hey! I'm not looking to-"  
"Aw man, you're not?? Shame. You're a nice piece of work," said the woman. She sounded like Show Pony, that distinct southern belle accent struck a chord.  
Kobra's ace ass can't comprehend this. "Yes, ehm, I'm not looking to.. yeah. Anyway, if you'd be willing to hear me out.."  
The tall lady just flicked her wrist and rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I've already my time."  
Kobra audibly scoffed frustratedly. "Would you please listen to me for a second? It's kind of urgent!"  
"Oh!" She turned back around. "Why didn't you just say so, sugarplum? Whaddya need help with?"  
Because you kept interrupting me!! Ugh, whatever. "Uhh, by any chance have you seen my brother wandering around here?"  
"Oh, I can probably help with that. What's your brother look like?"  
Kobra thought for a moment. How do you describe Party Poison..?  
Then Kobra remembered that his brother is Party Poison, and that everyone knows him by name.  
"It's Party Poison. My brother is Party Poison."  
"Your brother is Party Poison?!"  
"Heh, yeah. And I'm Kobra Kid, in case you couldn't tell."  
The woman clicked her tongue. "Ah. Sorry, I don't know you."  
"Great."  
"Well, anyways, I haven't seem 'em, buuuut… one of my buds swears she saw him go into the bathroom."  
"Which one? There's two."  
"Upstairs one. The one with white walls, looks like a re-education center?"  
"Ahh, yep."  
"Yeah, my friend said she saw him go in there. I told him he's probably just some red-haired himbo with a blue jacket but maybe she was right. I should put more trust in my friends."  
"Yep, you should." Kobra turned his head. "Ok, so. Party Poison, white bathroom. Yes?"  
"Yes. Probably. Still could be a red-haired himbo. Don't trust me too much."  
"It's not like I have another idea of where to look." Kobra shrugged. "I'll check. Thanks, lady."  
"You're very welcome, Kobra Kid." The lady winked.  
"I'm.. gonna go now."  
"You do that."  
"Okay. Bye."  
"Bye."  
The tall lady (and good lord was she tall) turned on her heel and walked away at the same time Kobra started bounding towards the bathroom door. The inside of the room was illuminated, pristine light seeping into the dark hallway lit only by some people's glowsticks.  
Kobra shook the doorknob. Yeah, it was locked alright, which meant someone was inside.  
The fact that Poison didn't immediately yell out "OCCUPIED!" as he always, ALWAYS did, was a bit of a warning sign. Either the person inside was not Party Poison (also probably mute, or deaf, I mean, who DOESN'T respond to a knock on the bathroom door??) or there was no one inside.  
Huh. I guess we check somewhere else-  
Kobra felt a tap on his shoulder.  
"Hey, nine-footer!"  
Kobra turned around. "What, where…?"  
"Down here!"  
Kobra looked down. Ah, it's just NewsaGoGo.  
"Jesus, Newsie, I thought you were a ghost."  
"Nope. Just short." The tiny girl twirled one of her pigtails. "Y'know your brother's in there, right?"  
Kobra's eyes widened. "Wait, what? He is??"  
"Yeah. Been in there forever, too, and won't answer when I bang on the door with my brass knuckles shouting curse words. The only thing that got me was a 'bad behavior' sticker from Cherri Cola when he passed by."  
"Geez, that's weird. Are you 100% sure it's him?"  
"Yeah dude, I saw him go in. I wanted to say hi but he must've been in a real hurry. Didn't even look my way. How rude!"  
"Ah fuck, he must've been really mad… he always likes talking to you," Kobra considered.  
"Oh yeah, what's that about? People were saying you punched him, or he punched you, or something."  
"What?? Nononono, nobody punched anyone, we just had a bit of a quarrel."  
Newsie rolled her eyes. "Pfft, quarrel? What a dumb fancy word. Speak in my language, good sir."  
Kobra sighed. "He was being a dick so I yelled at him."  
"Oh!" Newsie exclaimed. "Wow! That's- wow, that sucks dude!"  
"Yeah, kinda. We just.. I wanna talk to him and make sure he's okay."  
"Well, he's been in that bathroom for forty minutes. Probably more like fifty now. And if I were to guess, he's ignoring everyone deliberately."  
"God, that son of a-"  
"Hey! Shh! Shshshh! Shut up!!" Newsie hissed. "You're really gonna talk about him like that right before you try to comfort him? You should be ashamed of yourself."  
Kobra chuckled. "Ok mom."  
"I'm deadly serious, Kobe." Newsie frowned. "You're here to cheer him up, then cheer him up."  
"Okay, okay. I'll put on my best 'I'm not mad at you' face."  
"Go ahead."  
Kobra's expression morphed into… something. He looked like he was trying to put on a calm face, but he looked too strained. He snorted and burst out laughing.  
"What are you doing, you goof?"  
Kobra calmed down. "I'm terrified of him."  
"Don't be. He's your brother, neither of you should be scared of the other."  
"That's a fair point, but like, have you met my brother? He's scary."  
Newsie nodded. "Ok yeah he's a little scary but like, don't fear him. He's your duuude. You grew up together. He pulled you out of the city with his own two grubby little hands in a wagon when you were like eight years old. He spoon-fed you sand when there was nothing to eat."  
Kobra raised his hand. "That made me really sick, actually."  
"He still cared about you enough to feed you."  
"Sand has no nutritional value."  
"He cares about you, dumb shit, go act on your undying love for your family."  
"Ok, ok!"  
Kobra exhaled, rubbing his bad luck beads, hoping that the witch would give him strength.  
He rapped thrice on the door.  
Predictably, no answer.  
"Hey, Poison? It's Kobra," Kobra said loudly.  
No answer.  
"Oh come on," Kobra groaned. "I know you're in there, dummy."  
"Communication!!!" Newsie hissed.  
"I'm trying!"  
Kobra cleared his throat loudly. "Poison, I think we both said a lot of things we didn't mean tonight. I'm just here to check on you."  
No answer.  
"Oh come on!"  
"Shhhh!" Newsie shrieked.  
"No! I don't have anything to work with! I don't even think he's listening!"  
"Well he's certainly not gonna be listening if he heard what you just said!"  
"Party Poison," Kobra announced, "if you do not open this door right now, I will PISS in all of your socks! Including your trans flag knee-highs!!"  
No answer.  
"Dammit!!" Kobra swore. "I really though that'd work!"  
"He does love those knee-highs," Newsie remarked.  
Kobra's mind was racing. "That's it, I'm gonna break the door down."  
Newsie's eyes widened. "What?!"  
"Not like he's gonna listen to me any other way!"  
"Oh, so you're resorting to property damage??!"  
"Yes! Yes, exactly!!!"  
"This can literally only end badly, but… Alright, do your worst. Kick the shit out of that door."  
"Poison, I'm gonna kick this door down! This is your last chance!"  
No answer.  
"Alright! I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna count to three!"  
"Jesus, just do it already, nine-footer!"  
"One!"  
Kobra swallowed his anxiety. Do it, pussy, his inner voice would say.  
"Two!"  
He started to lift his leg. Could he really take out this door in one blow? Probably? Maybe.  
"One!"  
BOOM.  
…..it didn't work.  
"That was anticlimactic," Newsie remarked.  
Kobra sighed. "Ok, take two!"  
"What, you gonna count down again?"  
"Nah."  
Kobra raised his leg again, exhaling.  
Kobra's breath was caught.  
"OH MY GOD!!"  
Newsie peered through the door. "What are you screaming abo- OOOOOOH MY GOD. THAT'S-"  
"PARTY POISON?????"  
Kobra rushed to his brother's side as he lay cold on the tile floor, maskless.  
"Wait, he isn't-"  
"YEAH, I SURE FUCKING HOPE HE ISN'T!"  
Kobra Kid held up Poison's limp hand. It's cold and purple. Yep. There isn't an ounce of life in his brother's body.  
Kobra's going into shock. What's he gonna do now? Party Poison is dead, for real this time, and they have evidence to prove it, his body's right here, Party Poison's dead fucking body is right here and what the hell is Kobra gonna do without him?  
"G-go get Jet," Kobra breathed.  
"But isn't he out looking for Ghoul?"  
"Just go get him!"  
"O-okay."  
Newsie ran off, the squeaking of her sketchers getting fainter the further away she got. Kobra looked back at his brother, his dead brother, his brother who's dead. He took two fingers and pried his brother's eye open.  
There it was. The part of him that Poison never wanted anyone to see. His eye pulsed in yellow and purple. Poison had hidden it for so long. But he couldn't anymore. Now that he was dead, he had nothing to hide.  
Kobra closed his eyes and rubbed his bad luck beads. Softly, he began to pray.

Saints protect him now.  
Come angels of the lord.  
Come angels of the unknown.


	17. Good Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's... ok?

Chapter 17 - Goodnight  
Next time Party Poison was conscious, he was blind.   
Or maybe he was blind. Hard to tell. What was being blind even like? Was this it?? Maybe he was just in a really dark room. Or maybe he was dreaming. He'd dreamt of similar things before.   
Poison pinched himself. Hard.   
"Ow!" Poison tried to cry. However, it seemed that it was impossible to speak.   
So that taught Poison two new facts. A. This wasn't a dream. B. He could no longer speak.   
Speaking was what Party Poison was best at, above all else, so. That was a shame.   
That's when the thought first occured to Poison.   
Was he dead?   
He couldn't have been. He didn't have that much to drink.   
I mean, yeah, he had drank a lot, but not that much, what the fuck?   
"Yeah you did, dumbass."   
"What? Who's there??" Oh, right, Poison couldn't speak.   
The voice was soft, but shrill. It echoed endlessly through the void Poison was floating in.   
"Turn around," the voice said again.   
"Who are you?? Where are you???" Poison said, just in case the voice could hear him, even though he couldn't even hear himself.   
"I said, turn around," the voice repeated. Okay. Apparently this seemingly disembodied voice meant business.  
"I.. can't figure out how."   
The voice groaned. "God, you mortals are useless. Can't figure out how to do anything on your own. Here, let me help you out."   
“Uhh, ok?”  
The next thing that happened Party Poison wouldn’t have believed. If you had told him that a giant-ass fucking HAND would take him between two fingers, spin him around like a fucking twister flick, then stop him with a third finger. He’d think you were a crackhead.   
There wasn’t much time to process that part though because holy fuck that’s the fucking PHOENIX WITCH.  
RIGHT THERE. THAT’S- THAT’S THE PHOENIX WITCH.   
AND THAT’S WHEN IT OCCURS TO POISON THAT OH GOD, HE’S ACTUALLY FUCKING DEAD.  
DEAD. HE’S DEAD, HE FUCKING DIED. IF HE’S HERE, THAT MEANS HIS BODY IS STILL IN THE BATHROOM IN THE NEST.   
HE’S DEAD. HE ACTUALLY DIED.   
“Wait- WAIT-”  
“Calm yourself,” the witch mused, in her inhuman echoey voice. “You’re having troubled thoughts. You always are.”   
“No, no no no,” Poison shrieked, though again, it seemed he wasn’t really talking. The witch understood him, and he could hear his own thoughts, so it didn’t really matter. “This isn’t real, this is a dream, a hallucination, it’s not real, I’m not-”  
“Maybe,” the witch replied, not confirming or denying Poison’s statements. “But whatever it may be, you’re going to be here for a while.”   
Poison is trying his best to feel. But it’s hard to feel anything when you’re dead. It’s hard to feel anything but.. Cold.   
“Please,” Poison pleaded. “Please let me go back. Give me another shot. It’ll be better this time.”  
“You don’t understand,” the witch mused, remaining entirely calm. “This isn’t a punishment. I didn’t take your life. You did.”   
Poison’s tears are frozen in his eyes. It’s so fucking cold.   
"But I didn't.. what? That doesn't make any sense."   
“Yeah, you kinda did. You're a lightweight, dumbass. Sorry you can't exactly drink the same you did when you were 22." The witch picked at her nails. Y’know, real obnoxious of you to give out in the bathroom when the door is locked from the inside. It’s going to take them forever to figure out where you are.”  
“So it’s true,” Poison lamented. “I’m really dead.”  
“Maybe so. We’ll have to see how this whole procedure goes.”   
Poison cocked his head to the side. “Wait, what procedure-”  
“Party Poison, do you know that I created you?”   
The witch had interrupted him. That was.. New. I mean, he should’ve expected the literal, actual God to have some sort of complex above a normal killjoy, but like, hey!  
“I mean… I figured as much.”   
“I’ve been watching you your whole life, did you know that?”   
“I mean, you’re supposed to be an omniscient being, right? All-seeing? I thought that kinda went without saying-”  
“Why do you dislike yourself so much?”  
I- that was… blatant? “You think I-”  
“Why are you trying to lie to me?”   
It seemed like the witch was rapidly switching from the ‘50 year old smoker woman at the gas station who gives good advice’ persona back to the regal goddess trope. So basically, every witchjoy ever. Except if a witchjoy was 50 feet tall and was floating in a seemingly endless black void.   
“I’m not trying to-”  
“See, you’re doing it again.”   
"Oh," Poison realized.   
"I know everything about you, Party Poison, get used to not being able to lie to my face like that."   
"Ah, right. The whole- omniscient thing, aha."   
"Yep." The Witch sighed, and it caused the entire void to echo. "You're a beautiful, important specimen, Party Poison, you must realize that."   
"I'm not so sure," Poison chuckled. "I didn't get famous for doing much in particular."  
"Well, go ahead and think that," the witch supposed. "You're only further hurting yourself by thinking harmfully of yourself."  
"That's an interesting way of saying it, ha."   
Party Poison feels like he's going insane, but did he care much, no. If this was the state he would be in for the rest of his everlasting immortal coil, he might as well get chummy with God.   
"You left your mask up there, you know," the witch commented. "Made my job a whole lot easier."  
"Wait, WHAT?!"  
"Why are you surprised? You took it off yourself."   
Poison didn't exactly expect to fall straight back into panic mode, but, that was how you did it.   
"Please, please please please please please," Poison pleaded, and he would have been on his knees if there were any ground here. "Please let me go back. I can't let them- not now, not in my last day on earth, I can't go out like that with them knowing that knowledge-"  
"You really wanted to die a hero, didn't you?"   
Poison hesitated. "I mean yeah, I kinda wanted to go out with a bang, but more importantly I wanted to go out with my mask on so nobody had to see-"  
"What, your eyes?"   
His eyes. Poison's eyes.   
The witch had been looking at them the whole time.  
"Aghh, now you're making me uncomfortable!" Poison shielded his eyes.  
"Party Poison, I've seen your eyes before. I remember when the explosion first happened."  
"LA LA LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"   
"Yes you can, Party Poison, you can't even hear yourself!"   
"Can you stop calling me by my full name? Like, geez, just call me Poison or something. It's weird."  
The witch sighed. "Anyways… going back to the mask thing.."  
"Shh, don't fucking- talk about it-"  
"Geez, do you want to live or NOT, Party Poison?!"  
Poison gasped. "That's an… option?"  
"Yes, BUT! Hear me out," the witch explained. "So the way this works is- I can give you back your life, in exchange for something of equal value."  
"Geez, what could equal the value of a human soul??" Poison asked.  
"Oh, you'd be surprised. Souls ain't worth much compared to the other stuff, I mean, have you seen what kidneys go for on the black market?? That shit goes for SO much. Like, we're talking 120,000 carbons or more per kidney. That's insane."  
"Holy shit that is a lot of money," Poison agreed, scratching his chin. Look, we're getting offtopic. What do I need to do to go back to the desert?"   
"It's quite simple. Leave a piece of you with me."   
Poison's eyebrows raised. Wondering what she meant by that.   
"Do you want me to like, cut off my ear or something??"  
"Your MASK, Party Poison. Ideally, it would be the mask."   
Hmm. Poison considered his options. "So is the ear thing totally out of the question? I'd probably rather have only one ear for the rest of my life than have anyone have to look me in the eye for more than a second."  
"Except Kobra?"   
"Goooood, I'm not used to you just- knowing things about me!" Poison pouted. "Like I get the whole all-knowing thing but c'mon man, don't get personal!"   
"Guess I'm pretty good at my job, huh?" Even though the witch's stone-still mask remained unchanged, Poison could feel her smirking at him. "Anyways, I guarantee you'd rather give me your mask than an ear."  
"No, I.. actually don't think that's right," Poison remarked matter-of-factly.   
"God, Party Poison, I'm not taking your fucking ear when you have a perfectly good mask right up there."   
"Hnnnngh," Poison whined. "There's really no changing your mind?"   
"No."  
Poison sighed. "Alright, fine, albeit. Usually I wouldn't agree to such an offer, but I… kind of wanna live right now."   
"Now that you know what it's like to be dead."  
"I mean, yeah. No offense to your system, but it kind of fucking sucks here."  
"I mean, assuming you chose to stay dead, you would have moved to a plane where you cannot see, move, or feel, and be at eternal peace, but yeah, I can see the appeal of living."   
Poison and the witch were silent for a bit.   
"So can I go?" Poison said.  
"Oh, yeah, sure. Uhh, you have any questions before you go? Normally people have a lot of things to ask when they meet God."  
Well, first of all, you get self-awareness points.  
"Uhhhh…" Poison thought for a moment. "You got like an… FAQ page?"  
The witch chuckled, which was something that Poison did not know she could do. "Yeah, no. Just ask away."  
"Are you real?"  
The witch answered without hesitation. For anyone else it would've been a deep question to ask, but it seemed like she got it a lot.  
"I dunno. What do you think?"   
Hmm. "I mean, I've kinda believed in you ever since I heard about you. Never really considered anything else. But hearing you say that makes me wonder if you're a figment of my imagination."  
"Well, to be true, none of us really know anything. Humans are just specks on a bigger speck hurling around a slightly bigger fiery speck. And everything you see, and hear and feel, are just chemical reactions. So I could be real, I could not be. It's hard to care."  
"Wow. That was… a lot."  
"Yeah."   
Poison exhaled. "Whether you're real or not, I have to thank you, Phoenix Witch. For letting me live for a while longer. It's gonna be hard to get used to not wearing a mask all the time."   
"I can imagine. Good luck on the rest of your journey, Party Poison."   
Poison shut his eyes.   
"Goodnight."


	18. Party Poison and the Gift of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title says it all.

Chapter 18 - Party Poison and the Gift of Life

Party Poison woke up with a start and a splitting fucking headache. 

Wait, no. The headache shouldn't be what we're focusing on. We should probably be focusing more on the fact that he's ALIVE. He's alive! He was dead and came back to life!!! That's a really cool thing that happened!!!

He fluttered his eyes open, and when he did, he realized he was.. in his bed. Snug as a bug. All the shades were closed, and when he sat up, he could see that the floor was littered with letters- fan letters. Oh right, his death had an impact on people.. what a weird thing to think about.

There were drawings. There were 50-page dedications, there were short poems. People mourned him, genuinely. 

A poster was taped to his mirror. Poison staggered over to it- when he touched the mirror, he left dust prints. And the poster- 

It couldn't be.

Could it? 

Yep. 

It was the missing poster from his first day back- taken straight from his jacket. 

His jacket was hung on the doorknob- also dusty. They really didn't do anything with it? Or the room in general? Poison really thought that when he died, the first thing Kobra did would be to steal his room for himself. 

I guess it's a good thing they hadn't buried him yet. They really just left him in his bed, like a dying princess. At least they had the decency to leave on-  
Wait- shit. 

The MASK! 

Poison touched his forehead- yep, that mask was 100% gone. It didn't feel good. I mean, it felt good to be alive again, but- as soon as he saw the others again, they'd see his whole face. In fact, they already have seen his face, seeing as they probably carried him home. It's just- the fact that he was dead when that happened. He DIED!

Party Poison slowly got out of bed, in part to go visit his friends, in part because he's starving. His legs and arms felt like they hadn't moved in a thousand years. He's still cold, deathly cold. It would... probably take a while until that wore off completely. 

Poison staggered out of the room and, stumbling like a helpless child in a roller skating rink (and yes, he DID cling to the walls, in proper roller-skating fashion), made his way to the kitchen. 

Across from the kitchen was the lobby, or the foyé, as Pony liked to call it. Ghoul was asleep on the couch, snoring- why he wasn't in his bedroom was beyond Poison. Poison smiled. He was cute. Wait, was he not allowed to think that anymore? He probably wasn't allowed to think that anymore. Huh. 

Kobra's jacket caught Poison's eye. It was hung up on the doorknob. (Oh yeah, Poison could actually see out of the corner of his eye now! Now that there wasn't a mask there. Also cool.) Poison hoped the chamomile was still in there.

Digging his cold hands into the pockets, he rummaged around until he felt something that felt like plants. 

Chamomile. 

Or maybe weed? Nope, it's definitely chamomile.

Cool. Poison dug the chamomile out of Kobra's pocket, got a wooden cup out of a crate in the kitchen, along with some lukewarm water, and started to make tea. 

Well, it was more like chamomile flavored water. There wasn't really an effective way of making tea in the zones. 

Poison softly hummed to himself as he worked, stirring the concoction, as he adjusted to the overworld once more.

As he sipped his tea, he heard Ghoul stop snoring and fall silent. Poison turned his head and watched Ghoul's emerald green eyes slowly flutter open.

"You're cute when you sleep," Poison said softly. 

"Mm, thank you Poison," Ghoul replied drowsily. He sat up, and stretched out his limbs.

"Wait. POISON?" 

Poison snickered a little. "Took you long enough to come to your senses." 

"How are you- WHAT??" Ghoul exclaimed, having woken up entirely now, jumping off the couch with his hands to his head. 

"Died. Met God. She was chill. Came back. Got tea. Now I'm here." 

"HOW ARE YOU- YOU MET GOD???" 

"Yep." Poison sipped his tea. "Uhh, she was kind of a bitch, by the way? But I guess I have her to thank for me being back here. Wow, this is delicious."

Ghoul took a long sigh, looking like he was about to go into shock. "First of all…" he started shakily. "Your eyes are fuckin' badass-looking, it boggles me that you felt the need to hide them your whole life. You look like an Invader Zim character. It's cool as hell."  
Poison blushed. "Thank y-" 

"SECOND OF ALL," Ghoul yelled, then kissed Poison full on the lips.

Yep. That's right, it's happening again. 

Poison isn't about to pull away, I mean, this is Ghoul we're talking about. But.. what? 

When Ghoul finally pulled away, after a piping hot minute, he exhaled, long and loud. 

"I'm not missing my chance again," he huffed.   
"What are you doing?" Poison asked seriously, still inches away from Ghoul's face. "I thought you said you didn't want to be with me."

"I've had a lot of time to think about you and me since you died, Poison," Ghoul began, wiping his lip. You were out for almost 48 hours. And time spent sleeping took up about… 10% of that time."

"Wow. You're unhealthy." 

"Yeah yeah but that's not the point," Ghoul continued. "Poison, when you first disappeared, I didn't know what I was going to do without you, we were- we were best friends, we were like conjoined twins, we were inseparable. And I thought that was all there was to you and me. When you disappeared, I figured out that wasn't it at all. It was so, so.. so much more." 

"This is really good tragic backstory."

"Shut up, I'm not done. After the first week, I.. pretty much couldn't take it anymore? I wrote you a letter, which was stupid because I didn't know where you were, so I ended up burning it, and hoping that the wind would carry the smoke far away to wherever you were and told you everything I wrote about."

"The envelope," Poison murmured. 

Ghoul nodded somberly. "On the night of the party, I.. I didn't think you were ready. I didn't think I was ready, I never thought we were supposed to… happen. I WANTED to be with you, but I didn't think it was… supposed to be what happened to you and me. And I didn't think you liked me! I mean, you're like, hot, and what am I? Just a.. gay rat with trust issues and an IQ of 32."

Poison's eyes lit up. "I'm also a gay rat with trust issues and an IQ of 32."

"Ok, touché, but at least you're like.." Ghoul scrunched up his face, like he was tasting something sour. "...cute." 

"Awww, you think I'm cute?" 

Ghoul did that cute thing that tsundere girls do where they puff up their cheeks? You know the one. You could practically see the big cartoony vein on his forehead. "..a little."

"Well, I'm glad someone does," Poison sighed. "God, I can't wait to go out into public and get seventy billion questions about 'what's with your eyes?' this and 'why are your eyes purple and yellow?' that." 

"I mean, you'll get used to it in time, won't you? And so will the zones. Someone as iconic as you will spread the word faster than a juvie hall booking it from the pigs."

Poison just chuckled. "Ever seen a celebrity come out as anything but gay?"

"Fair point."

"It's just not that simple," Poison muttered. "Now that I don't have a mask, I feel like… the real me is out there. Like, there's some shit about me that not even you and Jet know, not even Kobra knows."

Poison leaned over to Ghoul. "Did you know I still have a Myspace account?" 

Ghoul gasped. "I most CERTAINLY did not!"

"Haha, yeah. I'd use it to talk to my juvie friends before I escaped the city. I haven't logged on since I left home, in fact my bio probably says my pronouns are still-"

Poison realized he was rambling, and looked at Ghoul, who was listening intently. 

"Yeah, uh.. my quote-unquote "secrets" only get worse from there."

"You think I don't know you're trans??" 

"No, that- wasn't what I was talking about!!" Poison exclaimed, punching Ghoul lightly in the shoulder.   
"I mean… ah." Poison swallowed. "It's gonna take me a while to get used to being… exposed." 

"What, like, just with the eyes thing, or…?"

"In general," Poison answered. "I think I'm gonna try being less of a piece of shit from now on."

"That sounds like a good plan." 

Ghoul grinned in that rat way of his, and Poison blushed, without feeling like he had to hide it.   
"Wait, you didn't answer my question, why did you..?"   
Ghoul nodded. "Oh yeah, that. Uhh, in the two days that you were out, I realized that I fucked up big time by turning you down, and decided that if in some miraculous moment I was ever able to see you again, the first thing I'd do was kiss you on the lips and ask you to be my boyfriend."

Poison giggled again. At this point he may as well have been a broken record that could only play laugh tracks. "I think you forgot to do the second part, though." 

"Oh, shoot, you're right! Uhh.." Ghoul dug around in his pockets for a second. 

"Pfft, what are you doing?"

"Gimme a second!!"

Out of his pocket, Ghoul retrieved a peach pit.   
"I was hoping I would find something of value to give you, but this is kind of all I have?" Ghoul said meekly. So, uh.." 

Ghoul got down on one knee, and held up the peach pit like an engagement ring, but it ended up looking more like Rafiki holding up Simba in The Lion King. What a doofus.

"This peach pit symbolizes a relationship, or something," Ghoul said in a sarcastic official tone. "You have to water it so it grows. Or whatever. Anyways, wanna be my boyfriend?" 

Poison, beamed from ear to ear, his eyes flashing violet and gold. "Sure." 

"Uh, cool." 

There was a moment of silence between the couple. Yeah, that's right, they're a couple now. 

"Is this the part where I get to kiss you again?" Ghoul asked.

"Um, FUCK YES??"

 

***

 

"I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING." 

These words boomed in the privacy of the fab four's home, having came from Certified Mother Jet Star's mouth.

Ghoul and Poison exchanged a glance. 

Ghoul was the first to speak. "Ok, so Poison died…" 

Poison followed up. "Met the Phoenix Witch.."

"Smooth talked her into bringing him back to life…"

"Made some tea…"

"Kissed me on the lips.."

"And now we're here!" Poison smiled. 

"Wait, go back to the middle part," Kobra chimed in.   
"What, the tea? It's chamomile, it's quite good, would you like some?" Poison sneered. 

"No, the part where you met the Phoenix Witch!" Kobra exclaimed. "Although tea would be nice," he added on, a little quieter. 

"You met GOD??" Jet yelled. 

"Essentially, yeah." Poison sipped his tea.

"I don't believe either are you are taking this as seriously as you should be," Jet replied. 

"What's there to be serious about? We talked, I had to give up my mask to come back, she sent me here. And that's on that."

"I guess if you don't think it's serious then you don't have to do anything," Jet supposed. 

"Wait, no, we're not done discussing this," Kobra pointed out. "So is the Phoenix Witch real??" 

"Hard to tell," Poison stated. "It could all be a fabrication, or it could not be. I'll probably never know, and neither will you."

"Until we die," Jet said solemnly. 

"Yeah." 

Ghoul smiled. "Well, hopefully we'll all still be together by then."

Poison and Jet nodded. Kobra's eyes flashed. 

"Oh right, so you guys.. what's the verdict?" Kobra pointed back and forth from Poison to Ghoul.   
"I think…" Ghoul started. 

Poison looked up at him. Ghoul grinned. 

"We're gonna try this out. And see if it works." 

Poison clutched the dry peach pit in his hand. 

"Aww." Kobra smiled from ear-to-ear, like a happy mother. 

Jet crossed his arms. "Y'all are cute, but Poison, you realize you're gonna have to go out and tell the others you're alive?"

"God, I do don't I," Poison lamented. "Tragic."

"It's better if you get it over with now," Kobra reasoned. "No matter their reaction, they'll still be happy to see you. Probably." 

"Yeah, I suppose. But.."

"No buts! You must confront your fears!"

"Ugh, fine!"

 

***

 

As they were getting their stuff ready to head to the diner, Poison murmured something to his brother. 

"I'm sorry," he said, and meant it. 

"For what?" Kobra replied as he stuffed some shit into his backpack, without meeting his brother's gaze. 

"For everything. Everything I did to you, everything I did to myself. I'm a stupid piece of shit."

Kobra wasn't about to argue with that, because it wasn't necessarily wrong? However. 

"I'm glad you're alive, Party Poison. I think at the moment that's all that matters."

Poison wasn't ashamed to admit that made him tear up a bit. "Kobra, can I have a hug?"

"In a minute," Kobra said dismissively. "Now that you're alive, you can have all the hugs you want."

 

***

 

Poison and Ghoul cuddled in the backseat all the way to the diner. 

Poison had to beg Jet to drive instead of him for the first time in a while just so they could do it, but hey, it still happened. 

Poison tested his head on Ghoul's shoulder while he stroked his hair. It was very gay. Poison didn't realize how touch starved he was, but holy shit, being dead really does something to you huh?

"You're cold," Ghoul murmured into his hair.

"I know. It's the whole being dead thing. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's cute."

"How is being cold cute?"

"Dunno. But it is."

"You guys are mushy," Kobra said without turning his head.

"Shut up, boomer," Ghoul replied without missing a beat.

Soon the car stopped.

"Ok, I drove," Jet said sternly. "You gotta drive next time, though."

"Jet Star, if I get to do this every time I'm in the backseat, I might never drive again," Poison replied dreamily. 

"Well, I'm calling shotgun for the drive back, so good luck with that in the back, Pois." Ghoul smirked. 

Poison and Kobra both said "Hey!" Simultaneously. At that very moment-

"Hey gang," Show Pony's voice called. "And Party Poison."

Poison grinned. "What, you're not shocked that I'm alive?" 

"Not really. I'm an avid believer in the theory that Party Poison is immortal, and that's why he keeps getting away with all the shit he does. So it was no surprise that you came back."

"I talked to god." 

"That's rad dude. Wanna come inside? Newsie and Chimp brought soda and we're gonna make rum and cokes."

"Rum and coke?? I want rum and coke!" Ghoul called from behind Poison. 

"Yeah, I want in too!" Jet chimed in. 

"I haven't drank since I died.." Poison pointed out. 

"What, are you thinking about quitting, Pois?" Kobra asked. 

"I mean.. no, BUT, I'm probably gonna get more hinged, if you know what I mean. More controlled." 

"That could easily require quitting for a bit," Jet added.   
"Ok well in that case, that's gonna get figured out after I have a cocktail with my friends for the first time since I died. I haven't even seen Newsie and Chimp since I first left!" 

Kobra was silent. The others nodded as they went into the diner. 

The gang was all there. Cherri Cola, Show Pony, NewsaGoGo and her datemate DJ Hot Chimp, and now the fab four. 

The chatter was quiet. And when their eyes fell on Poison, they went silent. 

Newsie clasped her hand to her face, looking like she was about to cry. She and Kobra exchanged a look while Cherri's jaw dropped right out of his mouth, and Dr. D just stared in disbelief. 

DJ Hot Chimp was the first to speak. 

"Does anyone else see Party Poison, or is that just…?"

"What, you guys are surprised??" Pony exclaimed. 

"I mean, yeah, he was kind of DEAD!" Newsie yelled. 

"Yeah, well, the Phoenix Witch works in mysterious ways," Poison said casually.  
"Poison, you're.. supposed to be dead," Cherri chimed in.

"Yeah, we kinda figured that part out already!" Pony rolled their eyes.

"Wait, waitwaitwaitwaitwait, ok," DJ Hot Chimp blabbered, taking out a notepad and pencil. "This is gonna make SUCH a good podcast episode. Are you a ghost?"

"Uh.. I don't think so?"

"Oh god DJ, leave him alone," Newsie scolded. "Although, whether you are a ghost or not is incredibly important information."

"Pretty sure I'm not a ghost," Poison reassured. 

"Damn." Newsie snapped her fingers. "That would have made for an amazing podcast episode."

"That's what I said!" 

"You two, stop terrorizing the Poison," Jet mused, calming the two down. "You can work on your podcast later. Cherri, Pony, where's Dr. D?"

"He was just here," Cherri noted. "I dunno where he wheeled off to. He'd be so happy to see you, Pois."

Poison snickered. "You talk about him as if he's dead."

"Is anyone gonna talk about Poison's eyes?"

The room fell silent. All eyes were on Pony.

"What, did I say something wrong?" They added. 

"It's ok, you guys, it doesn't matter," Poison assured.

DJ Hot Chimp got out of xeir seat, towering above Poison and, for the record, everyone else in the room, and even the zones. Xe was 6'2. That's insane. "Am I allowed to ask exactly one question?"

"Sure, go for it, DJ."

"How did that even happen?"

"God, DJ, that's quite the question," Cherri replied.

Poison clicked his tongue. "Eh, it's not a long story. Kobra knows it."

"I do, in fact, know it," Kobra confirmed. 

Poison chuckled. "So it was maybe nine years ago, right? And-"

"Wait, wait, no, this is all wrong, you've gotta make it into a super dramatic story!" Newsie interrupted.   
DJ nodded. "Newsie's right, all of this is getting written down so you might as well make it sound more like a story and less like a stand-up bit."

"Both of you shut the fuck up and let the Poison talk," Ghoul silenced. 

Poison flashed a grin at Ghoul. If he noticed, it wasn't clear.

"Basically, the fuckin gist is- Kobes and I are fresh outta the fuckin city, right? We're fuckin' fresh meat. And we're just hanging out in the desert like the cool fuckin bros that we are. And then some shit fucking explodes. We think it was a land mine. But we're not sure. And it turns out! That bitch had fucking radiation or some shit in it! Because I got fucking knocked the fuck out and when I woke up my eyes were fucked up to shit! Like my vision was all fucked up for a few weeks after that and I think I was pretty much entirely blind for like 20 minutes when I first woke up but my vision is almost entirely back but somehow this fuckin purple and yellow bullshit still persists and I'm like super self conscious of it since I'm self conscious of literally everything about myself, but here I am showing it to you guys because I trust you and stuff."

"...You're beautiful," Show Pony said, after a second of silence. 

Party Poison scoffed. "Ok, Veronica Sawyer." 

"No, I mean it," Pony assured. "You look badass as hell."

"I look like an animation meme," Poison replied, only half joking. 

"Dude, you look really cool," Kobra chimed in. "You looked cool back then and you look cool now."

"Hmm. I still have yet to believe you," Poison replied. 

"Poison?" 

Ghoul's voice cut through the crowd. Poison turned to face him, nerve fluttering in his gut.

"Yeah?" 

"You look cool."

A small smile was visible on Poison's face as he shyly pushed back a lock of hair. "You really mean that?"

You could practically HEAR everyone in the room roll their eyes. 

"Yeah." 

"Cool."

All the killjoys in the room collectively started shuffling their feet awkwardly. 

"Oh, right." DJ Hot Chimp's voice broke the silence. "We gotta start on rum and cokes."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Newsie agreed, and the others nodded. 

While DJ got started on the cocktails, Poison's eyes darted around. Not for any particular reason- he just did that when he was bored. 

Through the windows he could see it was somewhat dark, even though it was the middle of the day. He peeled himself off of the leather booth he had stationed himself in and peered over the radiator outside the window. 

Clouds fumed overhead, which never happens. Dark clouds, clouds that the desert hadn't seen in years.  
"Guys, look, there's a shower curtain going on!"

"Wait, what? Really?" Someone said, and like five people crowded around the radiator at once. 

"Oh wow, yep. That happened fast," Jet noted.

"You think it's gonna rain?" Kobra asked, turning to Jet. 

"Mm. I wouldn't put it out of the question."

"That'd be amazing," Kobra remarked. "We haven't gotten rain 'round here in… probably two years." 

"That sounds right," Poison added.

"It's over the city right now," Jet said, fixing his eyepatch. "It'll be over us within an hour."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the brain cell of the fab four," Ghoul said jokingly. 

"Rum and cokes are ready, gamers," DJ announced, picking up xeir tray with the drinks on top, beaming.   
Each killjoy took a glass off the tray. Show Pony's was the only one with a lime wedge in it, which was dumb and weird, but whatever. 

"Shall I make a toast?" Ghoul announced.

"What, you aren't going to try and use three straws to drink the whole thing in under 30 seconds like you always do?" Poison smirked. 

"Of course not, who do you think I am? I'm gonna do that after I toast, dumbass," Ghoul hissed. He raised his glass. "Cheers to Party Poison, and the gift of life."   
"Cheers!" Everyone said in unison, clinking glasses.   
As the glass reached Poison's lips, thunder rumbled outside. The eight killjoys exchanged wide-eyed glances, and all of them rushed back to the radiator, leaving their glasses at the booth. 

"It's raining," Cherri said in disbelief. "I can't believe it. It's been so long." 

"It's raining, Pois!" Ghoul exclaimed with a toothy grin.   
"Pft. Very cool, Ghoulie," Poison replied. 

Jet used his big strong man arms to push the screen window up and open and stuck his hand out.  
"God, it's really coming down," he noted. "This'll be the most rain we've had in years."

"And the only rain we've had in years," Newsie added.

DJ Hot Chimp's face lit up. "You guys wanna go out into it?" 

Ghoul started nodding furiously. Various "yeah"'s were exchanged from within the booth. 

"I'll pass," Poison said truthfully. 

"Oh c'mon, Pois, what are you afraid of?" Ghoul's voice came from behind him. 

"I'm still cold from the whole death thing. I feel like if I get any colder I'll get sick."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad, Pois," Ghoul whined.

"Maybe Ghoulie would be willing to share his jacket with you," Jet teased, nudging the both of them. 

"Maybe you'll get struck by lightning. That'd warm you right up," Newsie added. 

"Shut up, both of you," Poison replied. 

"Come on, Poison, savor this moment!" Ghoul said, kneeling down to Poison's level because he was still sitting. "You just came back to life. Now live a little." 

Those words struck a chord with Pois. 

You just came back to life. Now live a little.

Poison nodded, and, looking up at Ghoul, he smiled. "Aw, hell. Why not?" 

"Yes!!" Ghoul cheered. 

"Alright, let's go out, bitches," DJ Hot Chimp announced. 

***

The rain was coming down in sheets now.  
Within 30 seconds of being outside, everyone was soaked, and yes, it was very fucking cold, but nobody cared. 

"Is it too late to ask for your jacket??" Poison jokingly called to Ghoul, who was standing a ways away. 

Ghoul took off his jean jacket, which was absolutely drenched, and held it in the air. "Pretty sure it'd make your experience worse!" 

Poison giggled. "Probably right!"

Kobra and Ghoul had started to construct a castle in the wet sand, while NewsaGoGo placed in circles around the castle, carefully choosing the time to strike and destroy their progress, and DJ Hot Chimp desperately tried to prevent xeir girlfriend from ruining their progress. Ghoul stood a ways away from them, just watching, peacefully. 

Poison trudged through the wet sand to go see him. His lewis leathers padding through the downpour. Ghoul noticed his approachal, and turned to face him.  
When Poison got there, they were just.. facing each other. 

"Hey," Ghoul said. 

"Hi." 

"You enjoying yourself?" 

Poison giggled. "To a point."

"We'll go home after this," Ghoul promised, "and we can make a trash fire or something to warm up."

"I think I'm ok with just shaking off like a dog then going to bed," Poison joked. 

Ghoul laughed. Poison couldn't help but laugh too. 

"I love talking to you." Ghoul beamed. 

Poison didn't reply. There was no need to. His smile was enough. He and Ghoul locked eyes.

"Hold on, can you get down to my level real quick?" Ghoul asked. "I wanna kiss your cheek but I'm too short." 

"Oh, dude, sure." 

Poison bent down. Ghoul planted a kiss on his new boyfriend's cheek as he turned tomato red and grinned like an idiot. 

Poison nestled his head into Ghoul's shoulder. 

Everything was okay.


	19. Some Things Called You (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end of the line.

"I think I'm gonna cut my hair."

Poison sat across from his boyfriend in his bedroom, fiddling with his beads.

"Oh really?" Ghoul replied. 

Two months have passed since Ghoul and Poison got together and, genuinely, these have been the best two months of their lives. It's helping Ghoul de-stress, it's helping Poison be more honest. It's an all-around package. 

"Yeah, maybe cutting it into like a pixie thing. Is it a pixie cut if I'm a guy?"

"I think if you're a guy it's just a boy's haircut," Ghoul laughed. 

Poison nodded. "You talked about shaving your head a few months ago. Maybe we could do ours at the same time."

"Haha, I dunno about that. I'm too much of a coward to do anything with my hair right now." 

"Does that include brushing it?" Poison smirked. 

Ghoul snorted. "Oh, you know it." 

Poison smiled. That's his boyfriend, he thought. He still hadn't really processed it, even though it had been two months. He's pretty confident that Ghoul hasn't really processed it either, I mean.. they don't really act that much different from when they were just friends. There was just a lot more cuddling and kisses. 

"Maybe I can get a second tongue piercing," Ghoul remarked. "Maybe a gauge this time. Like…" He stuck out his tongue and pointed to a spot near the tip. "ight theah," he said with his tongue still out.

"It's funny to me that you're willing to get a bajillion new piercings but cutting your hair is an automatic no."

"Bro I don't give a fuck about my face, my hair is precious," Ghoul replied defensively. 

Poison raised his eyebrows. "All of you is precious."

"Oh pfff- shut up." Ghoul covered his mouth to hide the fact that he was smiling. 

There was a knock on Ghoul's door. "Oh, lovebirds?" 

"Yes, Jet?" Ghoul replied. 

"You do remember what today is, don't you?" Jet's muffled question murmured its way through the door.

"Oh yeah, totally," Poison said confidently. 

Ghoul leaned over and hissed into Poison's ear "What is he talking about?"

"I don't know," Poison hissed back. "Play it cool until he mentions what it is."

"Neither of you remember what it is, do you?" Poison could feel Jet's patronizing smirk, even without seeing his face. 

"What? Of course we do," Ghoul lied through his teeth.

"Oh, really? Then what is it?" 

Ghoul looked at Poison for aid. "What am I supposed to say?" He mouthed. 

"Anyways, since clearly neither of you remember, today we're helping Bug and his gang pack up so they can move in," Jet 'kindly' reminded. 

"Ohhhh shit yeah," Poison recalled. 

"Am I allowed to open the door?" Jet asked, his voice sweet. 

"Ghoul is in his boxers," Poison pointed out. Not a definite answer. 

"Is that a yes or a no?" 

"Let him in," Ghoul advised. "Doesn't matter."

"You have been granted access to The Boyfriend Room," Poison announced. 

"Great." Jet laughed, turning the knob and revealing himself. 

"Ayyyy it's the jetman," Ghoul exclaimed. 

"You're fully dressed? Already? It's only like 7 A.M. Y'gotta relax."

Jet chuckled. "Poison, none of us have done… really anything, for like 3 days straight. This is the one thing we gotta do. And we gotta be there in an hour and a half. We have the rest of the day to unpack all their shit."

"Aaaaagh," Ghoul groaned. 

"What?" Jet asked. 

"I don't like having to do things."

"You never did." Poison smiled. 

"Be ready soon," Jet said. 

Ghoul opened up an apple crate full of shirts and hoodies and started digging through it, eventually choosing an aged gray t shirt. 

"What, you're wearing something besides the same 2 metal band shirts? That's new."

"Gotta look presentable at the very least," Ghoul muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back. "I don't wanna scare those kids away with Slayer and Slipknot."

"They all love you, Ghoulie, don't sweat it." 

Once Ghoul had tugged on a pair of navy sweatpants, he directed his gaze at his boyfriend, still sitting on the bed, legs crossed. 

"What are you looking at, dummy? Get your socks on."

"You have a very kissable face," Ghoul remarked. 

"Pfft. That's gay."

"Yeah, I KNOW," Ghoul exclaimed as he pulled on a pair of green socks with- being accurate with my math- probably something like 900,000 moth holes. 

"I have to drive this time, you know that, right? We won't be able to cuddle on the way there."

"Aw dammit!" Ghoul clicked his tongue. "Absolute fucking homophobia."

"Right? It's not fair. If I had my way I would never drive again. Too bad we have to go places sometimes."

"Hey, you need to go get dressed too," Ghoul advised, "or we won't be outta here on time." 

"I don't wanna move." 

Ghoul turned to face his boyfriend, his face lighting up at the opportune challenge. "Well you gotta."

"And what are you gonna do about it?" 

Ghoul pursed his lips. He got up in his shitty socks and slid over to his bed just to give Poison a kiss on the lips. Poison leaned in, Ghoul lifting up the base of his head with his hand. He broke away. 

"Go get dressed," Ghoul breathed. 

"Asshole," Poison muttered.

"That's more like it."

Poison had a knack for getting dressed fast, once you convinced him to do it. It mostly stemmed from not giving a fuck about what he wore on a day to day basis. He threw on a green and white striped crop top and some high waisted jeans that were splattered with paint. Some short socks and converse, and he was ready to go. 

When Poison emerged from his room, Ghoul and the others were waiting for him in the lobby. 

"Can we be fashionably late?" Poison asked innocently.

"You're the only one out of any if us who put any thought into their outfit," Jet pointed out.

"Absolutely false. I put zero effort into this outfit, I just own good clothes." 

"You look like the most cursed twink in the desert," Kobra laughed.

"Love you too bro. Who's calling shotgun?"   
Ghoul slowly put his hand up. Kobra pushed it back down. "It's my turn," Kobra stated. 

"There are no turns for the shotgun seat. It is plagued by anarchy. Anyone who claims it, gets it," Jet explained.

"Alright Plato, chill out with your smart-people talk. Jet, Kobes, you rock-paper-scissors for the shotgun seat while I find the damn keys."

Poison dug for his keys while Kobra shouted obscenities due to losing a game. Finally retrieving them, he turned. "Who won?"

"I did." Jet smirked. 

"He CHEATED!" Kobra shrieked. 

"How the fuck are you gonna cheat at ROCK PAPER SCISSORS?" Ghoul called.

"Anyways, I'm in the front. Suck it." Jet smirked.   
"You're an asshole," Kobra mumbled. 

"Everyone get in the damn car, they're probably waiting for us."

 

***

 

"Knockity knock!" Ghoul said aloud, outside Bug's tent. 

A tired looking Bug peered out, and his face brightened at the sight of the heroes. "Oh good, you're here. We were beginning to think you were joking." 

"Sorry we're late." Kobra was standing akimbo outside the tent. "Pois is a coward and refused to drive over 70."

"I'm sorry I don't want to risk fucking up the trans am right before we pile a bunch of kids into it." 

"Poison has a fair point. And we shouldn't go above sixty on the drive back. Not with all the stuff we're taking." 

"God, when was the last time any of us drove under 60?" Ghoul laughed. 

Poison nudged his boyfriend. "Don't be a bad influence."

"Is everyone packed up?" Kobra asked. 

"Should be, if they listened to me." Bug wiped the sweat off his brow.

"From one gang leader to another, take it from me, that won't happen often." Poison winked. 

"Don't be an asshole, Pois," Jet replied. 

"I'm not wrong though!!!"

Two of Bug's gang members emerged from a nearby tent. If Poison recalled correctly, their names were Tang and Velvie. They both looked very sleepy. 

"Rise and shine, kiddos!" Poison crossed his arms. 

"Are y'all packed?" Bug asked. His eyes darted to and from Poison, copying his posture. 

"Yeah, I packed for Tang and I last night," Velvie replied keenly. "Where's Bew and the girl?" 

"Bew went out about an hour ago to scavenge," Bug replied. "I'm not actually sure where the girl is. She may have gone with Bew."

The girl? Hmm. Poison didn't recall there being a girl in Bug's gang.

"Well tell 'em to get their asses over here," Tang grumbled, "or we'll leave without 'em."

"Calm your tits, Tang, I'm sure they know how to get back," Bug said, rolling his eyes. 

While Poison stood mouth agape, startled by the fact that a fifteen year old boy just used the word tits, the distant sound of tiny sneakers kicking up sand alerted his ears. His eyes shot up. Bew was coming down, across the desert, at the solid speed of a zip gun.

"Speak of the devil!"

Bew started picking up speed as they careened closer to the campsite. When they were some ten feet away, they sprang into the air and landed in a tackle hug on top of Party Poison's body. 

"Oh geezus, hi Bew!" Poison panted. 

"I think Bew wants you to carry them to the car," Velvie pointed out. 

"Wise assumption, Velvie," Poison remarked. "Would that be correct, little one?"

Bew nodded, bearing that toothy grin they always had.   
"Alright, I'll deal with Bew. You guys start packin' your shit into the car," Poison ordered. 

"Aye aye, cap'n," Velvie replied. 

"Uh, hi, I'm here!" 

Poison turned. So did Kobra, and Jet and Ghoul. There stood a girl- the girl Bug had been talking about. It seemed as if she had popped out of thin air. She had frizzy brown hair and a face smudged with dirt, filthy overalls and a ratty red backpack. 

"Jeez, there you are," Tang sneered. "We were wondering where you went."

"I went with Bew," the girl panted. "They're just a lot faster than me, hah." 

"Nice to meetcha." Party Poison did finger guns, like he tended to do. 

"I like your hair." Jet pointed to his own mane, grinning. 

"Nice to meet you too sir. And I like your hair too." The girl smiled, and even her dirt-caked face seemed to glow. 

"Ah, don't call me sir." Poison shook his head. "Too official. I'm Party Poison, and dammit, I'll die by that name."

"Chill it with the swearing, Pois, she's only nine," Bug reasoned. 

"But damn isn't--"

"Are you all packed up, Girl?" Bug interrupted. 

"Sure am. Got all of the two things that I own, ready to go."

Something about the girl piqued Poison's interest. Ironically, she was the most ordinary little juvie-looking rat he'd seen in his entire life, but somehow he knew there was something special about her. He had an idea of what it might be. But he didn't want to decide anything just yet. 

"Alright, time for y'all to start loading into the car," Kobra announced. 

"You guys ready to live with your big brothers the fab four?" Jet said in his cheery voice. 

"I dunno if you'll be able to take the heat," Poison boasted. "Some say we're too hot to handle."

"We live in the Cali desert. I think we can handle it." Tang grinned, which seemed rare. 

"I dunno man. I'm probably probably boiling point by now."

"Oh please." Kobra rolled his eyes. "You're barely a seven."

Poison flashed his brother a death glare.

Ghoul ruffled his boyfriend's hair, chuckling to himself. "He's joking," he assured. 

"Yeah, he BETTER be."

The kids started to load into the car. 

"We're gonna need a few people to sit on the floor," Jet explained, "because there's not enough seats."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Velvie pointed out. 

"Jesus, Velvie, grow up," Tang said, poking his gangmate's nose. 

"Yeah, it's a bit of a risky choice, but the alternative is bringing you all to the motel in rounds, and that's just a lot of work and wasted gas that we don't want to do," Jet explained. 

"Makes sense."

At that point everyone was in the trans am, except for local big strong men Party Poison and Jet Star, who were almost done loading all the kids' shit into the car. 

As expected, it was very crowded.

"Hurry upppp!" Ghoul called. 

"We're coming!" Jet barked back. "So impatient. You got everything, Pois?" 

"Yeah." Poison flicked sweat off his brow. "About to hop in the driver seat."

"Awesome. I'll be there in a minute." 

Poison slid into the car, shutting the door. He sighed with relief. Finally this ordeal would be complete. Bug's gang was coming to live with the fab four. It would be the first time they had guests since before the diner got killjoyified. Wild, isn't it? 

However, after a while (that while being just over two months. Generally, killjoys move in together in the same amount of time wlw move in together.), the fatherly bond between the fab four and the hive was that strong, and the desert knew. At that point everyone knew about the hive and how the fab four had essentially adopted them. The only thing that really needed to happen was for Jet to half-kiddingly say "Y'all should move into the motel" and three days later things just happened. 

Poison was content. For the first time in a while. This was a good life. 

"Alright fuckeroos, let's get going," Jet huffed. 

"Aw yeah, moving time!" Ghoul exclaimed. 

 

***

 

The drive home was short. 

No one talked. Everyone was either too tired, or too excited. Or both. 

"Alright, we're here." Jet exhaled, ready to haul all the shit inside. "This time all of y'all have to help get the shit inside."

There was a chorus of "aww" from the backseat. "Grow up, you guys, teamwork is key. Welcome to the desert," Poison chimed in. 

Bug, Tang, Velvie, Bew and newcomer The Girl climbed out and started carrying their shit into the motel. The fab four followed; Ghoul and Kobra showed them around the small place while Jet and Poison showed them to where they'd be sleeping. Rooms were kind of tight, so Velvie and Bew had to share. Everyone was ecstatic with the living situations- it was certainly an upgrade to living in the sand with tents. These shitty, broken down motels were about as good as you can get in the zones. 

Poison knocked a few times on the door to the room newly belonging to the girl, the one without a name. 

"Come in!" She hollered. 

Poison let himself in. He grinned at the newcomer. 

"This is amazing." The Girl grinned from ear to ear. 

"You getting situated well?" 

"I guess," the Girl replied. 

Poison nodded. "Adapting is always hard. You get used to it in time, though. How'd you end up with the hive anyway?"

"I found Bew when they were lost in that sandstorm."  
Poison remembered the sandstorm from a few days back. "Oh yeah, that. We were inside the whole time. Was it rough?" 

"The worst," the girl replied somberly. "There was sand everywhere. And some got in my mouth, and Bew helped me get it out. So when I figured out they were lost I helped them get home, and ended up staying."  
"That's cool," Poison replied, not exactly sure what to say. Out of all the children he'd met in the zones, he'd never met one so stoic, and calm, and… complicated. This kid spoke with such an intelligent tongue, and she probably didn't even know how to read. Like she'd… been here before, or something. 

"Tell me if you need anything," Poison said, patting the girl's head. "Remember, we're all friends here."

"Alright." The girl smiled, oh god that smile. It was the smile of an angel, the kind of smile that made Poison want to take this kid under his wing and just, protect and love forever. 

"Poisonnnn!!!" 

Someone was calling from the hallway. Poison immediately recognized it as Ghoul. He turned to the Girl. "Catch you later, okay?" 

"Okay." The Girl's smile dulled down into a small grin.   
Poison waved, and turned. He was on his way out when the Girl stopped him. 

"Oh wait, one more thing before you go!"

Poison raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" 

The girl stared right into Poison's eyes, seeing right through his soul. Her eyes glinted, catlike in nature. "I hope you're enjoying yourself." The girl winked, and fled. 

"Poisonnnnn! Come here!!!"

Poison didn't have time to unpack all of that. There was a boyfriend that needed to be attended to. When he pushed open Ghoul's door, he was sprawled on his bed. 

"Come here," he whined. "I'm cold and I want cuddles."  
"How are you cold? It's like 110 degrees out."

"Don't ask questions! Just cuddle me dammit!"

"Okay, okay!"

The spooning commenced. Ghoul did that dumb smile he knew Poison loved. 

"Y'know, I never saw you get super intimate with any of your boyfriends. Before we got together I never knew you were so touchy-feely."

"Maybe it's just that you're super cuddleable," Ghoul breathed. 

"Wouldn't the right word be cuddly?" 

"English isn't real. Stop talking and love me."

Poison giggled softly. Ghoul buried his face in the valley below Poison's neck. 

"You're so… small," Poison said without thinking. 

"Oh yeah, keep telling me, why don'tcha."

"Pff."

The two sand rats were silent for a bit.

Poison broke the silence. With a bat. "Hey, I don't wanna kill the mood-"

Ghoul yawned. "Every time you say that, you kill the mood."  
"Ok, first of all, I know, but hey!" Poison crossed his arms. "Second of all, do you get like, vibes from the new kid?"

Ghoul groaned and sat up. "What, the girl? She seems cool to me."

"No no, not like, bad vibes, just.. vibes. Like she's weird. No, not weird. Everyone's weird here. She's… different."

Ghoul scratched his chin. "Elaborate."

"She's fucking smart, dude. She's nine, I didn't have half her vocabulary when I was fifteen. And she's got this aura, I don't know how to describe it, but.. I feel like there's a reason she's here with us."

"Alright, well, we'll try and keep her around if you think there's something up."

Ghoul was the only one in the fab four who ever took Poison's spiritual findings seriously. They had been happening his whole life, hell, they played a part in him leaving the city- but they had gotten stronger since he came back to life. Keener. More of them. There had never been one so strong as this one. 

"I feel like she knows something we don't," Poison muttered. "And I feel like she doesn't quite know she knows it." 

"Do you think it has to do with..?"

"Yes," Poison replied, and he said it so definitely, so surely. 

"Ah, yeah, that would make- no, it wouldn't make sense. But I don't doubt you, I mean, you would probably be able to tell, right?"

"I dunno. Maybe it's just a hunch," Poison murmured. "I'm gonna keep an eye on her, though. Just to.. observe."

"Sounds like a good plan." 

Poison stood up, facing his boyfriend. "I love you. You know that already. But I love you."

"Love you too, Pois." Ghoul grinned. 

Things were changing and for once it was amazing. New roommates, new boyfriend, new life. 

Party Poison couldn't be happier. 

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, dear reader, for reading Some Things Called You. This fic has been in progress for EIGHT MONTHS, which is fucking crazy. Yknow what else is crazy? The amount of attention this fic has gotten. Thank you, every single one of you, for keeping me going. I don't think I would have been motivated enough at all to keep this fic going to the very end if you guys didn't respond to each and every chapter with such overwhelming positivity. 

This is the final chapter of Some Things Called You, but stories never truly end, do they? 

Much love,

Ferris


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